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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26593390">Suddenly I Became The MC</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trixy/pseuds/Trixy'>Trixy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Canon Rewrite, Crowley is useless, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Ghosts, Heartslabyul (Twisted-Wonderland), Hijinks &amp; Shenanigans, How Do I Tag, Idiots in Love, Loveable idiots, M/M, MC is salty, Magic, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ramshackle Dorm (Twisted-Wonderland), Rewrite, Second-Hand Embarrassment, Sexual Tension, Tags Are Hard, Tension, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Tsunderes, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Tension, Video Game Mechanics, it’s shippy if you squint</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 02:47:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,447</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26593390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trixy/pseuds/Trixy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Our story continues a few billion years later, in the modern era, a game has surfaced with a cult like following, a game about you, the MC, who got transported into an alternate dimension, or a different world, and has to find a way back to their original world whilst dealing with a highschool life. Of course that sounds interesting to people who want to escape their actual boring lives, whether they are an actual student or a grown adult, a game where you can pretend you are surrounded by attractive highschool boys and have adventures with them? Plus there’s magic? Who’s dumb enough to say no to that!</p><p>TL:DR</p><p>Twst but MC actually has a personality</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Deuce Spade/Ace Trappola if you squint</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prolouge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            A translation of

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/688879">Twisted Wonderland</a> by Disney.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Heyyy this is my first story since forever. So please don't be too harsh.<br/>Also, I would like to thank my friends for beta reading this!<br/>And lastly, I hope you guys enjoy this story!!</p><p>Also yes, the title was inspired by Suddenly I Became A Princess (might change the title if I have a better one in the future)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Come, let me tell you a story, about a game and a mirror, and how those seemingly insignificant things changed someones life. To tell this story we must turn back time to the begining, to where it all started.</p><p>Around 13.7 billion years ago there was a huge catastrophe in the universe known as the big bang- wait isn’t this too far back? No? It actually has something to do with the story? Oh, ok- from that explosion it created worlds, galaxies, and even alternate universes when things that may not have occured in our timeline occured there, or vice versa. Little changes, big changes, the multiverse holds many possibilities.</p><p>Our story continues a few billion years later, in the modern era, a game has surfaced with a cult like following, a game about you, the MC, who got transported into an alternate dimension, or a different world, and has to find a way back to their original world whilst dealing with a highschool life. Of course that sounds intresting to people who want to escape their actual boring lives, whether they are an actual student or a grown adult, a game where you can pretend you are surrounded by attractive highschool boys and have adventures with them? Plus there’s magic? Who’s dumb enouh to say no to that!</p><p>“What the fuck even is this?” A teenager grumbled skipping the advertisement about some rising otome game, their friends said it's not otome but, 22 handsome boys surrounding the MC? Yeah right, typical harem otome. “I mean what’s appealing about being surrounded by men anyways? It’s just suffocating.”</p><p>“Arien!! Your friends are here!!” at the sound of their mothers voice, Arien stuffed their phone into their pocket. Hoping off the bed, the ravenette pulled their teal dyed hair into a ponytail as they walked out of their bedroom and downstairs towards the living room, where their two friends are already making themselves at home.</p><p>“Yo,” Arien greeted, plopping down on the couch next to a brunette, Cheri, who’s been their friend since middle school.</p><p>“Arien, come on just download the game!” Haydenn, stated from the other side of the coffee table in front of them, “I promise it's not a cringey otome game,” the pinkette stated, waving her phone in front of Arien’s face.</p><p>“You do know, the more you beg me the more I’m going to say no, right?” Arien stated, swatting away Haydenn’s hand. “Besides, I just really don’t see the appeal.”</p><p>“Please just try the game.” Haydenn whined.</p><p>“Fine, if it’ll make you shut up I’ll try the game,” Arien huffed, taking out their phone and opening the appstore, “No promises I’ll like it, but I will try it out tonight, okay?” They stated, searching ‘Twisted Wonderland’ and clicking the download button, “there, happy now?”</p><p>“Yup! We can compare cards later, okay!” Haydenn grinned, hands shot in the air in a little victory cheer.</p><p>“Alright you two, now that’s settled, what do you guys want to do?” Cheri asked, looking at the two teenagers in front of her.</p><p>“Well, if you want, River’s back from the vet and he’s been wanting to play, if you two want we can take River for a walk,” Arien suggested, pointing towards the backyard where River, their golden retriever is staring at them with huge puppy-dog eyes.</p><p>“Aww, yeah! Let’s take Peanut too!” Haydenn immediately stood up and ran to the sliding glass that seperated the dogs and the three teenagers.<br/>
“Peanut can’t walk in normal parks, he’s too small,” Arien sighed and followed Haydenn to pick up Peanut who’s barking at River. The little teacup pup seems upset at the other.</p><p>“I’ll carry him!” Cheri declared, taking the pup from Arien’s hands. The two girls seemed to really want to play with the dogs, Arien just sighs.</p><p>“Fine, but keep an eye on them,” they stated, picking up the leash for River and putting it on the dog. “Mom! We’re taking the dogs outside!” Arien called out, when they heard their mothers ‘ok’, the three of them went out and heads to a nearby dog park.</p><p>~~~~</p><p>Later that night Arien laid on their bed as their finger hovered over the game icon, “Let’s see what the hype was all about,” they muttered clicking on the game. The game started up it’s opening sequence, and Arien was greeted with the title displayed brightly in the middle of the screen, “Twisted Wonderland,” they muttered clicking on the screen to enter the game.</p><p>“Ah, my lovely Lord, the nobel and beautiful flower of evil,” a voice said from the game, and Arien shivered, the way this VA voiced the character felt creepy. “You are the most beautiful, number one in the world,” Arien rolled their eyes, and started to click faster to skip dialogue. </p><p>“No thanks creepo, don’t talk to me like that,” Arien stuck out their tongue at the screen, quickly reading the cheesy lines the man is saying.</p><p>“Follow thy heart and take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror,” Arien’s stomach churned, that voice had not come from the game, it sounded loud, too loud to be coming from her phone. The teen looked around the dark room, hand clasping firmly on the phone.</p><p>“Who’s there-“ their sentence was cut off as they saw a silhouette in the mirror on the side of their room.</p><p>“Don’t be afraid of the power of darkness,” the voice said again, at this point Arien was sure there’s someone in the house. The teenager walked towards the mirror. The silhouette offered it’s hand, Arien gulped. “Come now, show me your power. Mine, theirs and yours.”</p><p>Arien felt like they were in a daze, hand reaching forward towards the mirror. As their fingers pressed on the mirror, it seems like it was trying to swallow their hand. Arien numbly notices something wraping around their hand, and thud somewhere in the room. The silhouette seemed to smile, but Arien wasn’t sure, everything was becoming hazy.</p><p>“Do not let go of that hand, at all costs,” that was the last thing Arien heard, and the scene turns to black.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey! If y'all enjoyed it please comment! Constructive criticism are also welcomed!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Mirror Mirror On The Wall, What the Fuck</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Twisted Wonderland? Night Raven College? This must be all a dream, how can Arien be in that place? It’s a game, it’s not real. But if this really is the game, how the hell did they get here?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Our MC is finally in the game! What's going to happen now?? <br/>Again! Huge thanks to my friend who beta read this. There might be some errors still, but i hope y'all understand!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thud, thud... thud</p>
<p>‘What the hell is that noise,’ thud, thud. ‘Wait, what the hell,’ Arien raised their arms to find that they’re in a confined space, their palm met something solid, it felt smooth, and cold, they could feel a fine texture underneath their palm.</p>
<p>As their hands roam around the small space they were in, memories came flooding back in the teenagers head. “There was a voice, and a person, and then...” Arien hissed as they tried to remember what happened after, it feels like their body was trying to stop them from recalling what happened.</p>
<p>Arien controlled their breathing, trying to calm their nerves. The situation can be dangerous, no, it’s most likely dangerous. Arien has no memories of what happened at their house to this space they are in at the moment, was it a kidnapping? Why though, it’s not like their family is super rich, the ransom money won’t be that plenty. Personal reasons? They doubt it, Arien’s not very close with anyone, rich or problematic, in their class, and none of their classmates seem to care much about them. Was Arien just unlucky to be a target of some random creep? They deducted that was the most likely reason. As for now Arien’s hands were still feeling around the confined space they’re in, and has figured out that they are trapped in some sort of box. It doesn’t seem too sturdy, so they figured they can try to force their way out.</p>
<p>“やべえ。そろそろ人がきちまうゾ。” A voice muttered from outside the box, “早いところ制服を。“</p>
<p>“Shit, someones outside,” Arien muttered. From what they can hear, the person was speaking Japanese. Shit, this was bad, Arien had no way to talk their way out of this. Outside of anime, Arien did not understand Japanese whatsoever.</p>
<p>As Arien was contemplating their means of escape, their nose picked up an odd smell, the smell is almost suffocating. They realized too late that the odd smell was smoke, and that the ‘door’ of the box was burning away. Ariens eyes widened, and they pressed their back to the farthest part of the box. They shut their eyes as they saw the fire coming closer, they waited for the burning sensation to come.</p>
<p>But nothing happened.</p>
<p>“Huh...?” Arien slowly opened their eyes and what they saw baffled them, the fire was avoiding them. It was as if the fire were merely dancing around them, with no intention of harming them. But how? Fire is not sentient, how is it not swallowing them up? Arien’s eyes shone with curiosity as their hand reached out towards the blue flames, and as they expected, the flame danced away from their hand.</p>
<p>The dark haired teen was so mesmerized that they had not realized a voice calling out to them, “オイ！お前！！俺様を聞いてんダゾ？！“ Arien snapped out of their haze, and their eyes immediately snapped towards the owner of the voice.</p>
<p>“Eh?” Arien had to blink twice to make sure they’re not hallucinating. “Neko?” Arien blurted out the single thing that came in their head. The cat? Creature that looks like a cat, that’s in front of them started yelling. Arien could only pick up something about not being a cat. Yeah no shit, cats can’t talk. Arien just watched as the creature kept yelling, are they in some sort of government experiment lab? Are they going to be turned into the creature that’s in front of them, and the creature is actually yelling at them to run?</p>
<p>Before Arien could respond the creature produced more blue flames, and this time Arien feared it won’t avoid them like last time. Not taking their chances, Arien pushed the creature out of their way and made a run for it. It yelled behind them, but Arien couldn’t give a shit.</p>
<p>Arien ran straight to a door and pushed, to their luck it wasn’t locked. The moment the door opened Arien ran out, through the dark corridors, passing by rooms that they had no idea what they were used for, ‘nothing good,’ they assumed. The corridor finally came to an end and they saw they were in some sort of intersection. “What the fuck is this place?” Arien growled, looking around.</p>
<p>“オレ様の鼻から逃げられると 思ったか！“ at the voice of the creature, Arien immediately went back into full gear and sprinted towards a random direction. “オイ!! ちょっと待った！！“</p>
<p>“Like hell I’m gonna wait!!” Arien yelled back at the creature. Luckily it wasn’t attacking them with its flames, so escaping wasn’t as hard as it would’ve been if the creature was attacking. But still, Arien wasn’t taking any chances with slowing down.</p>
<p>They kept running, and their feet were starting to become sore. But Arien can’t stop, who knows what will happen if they get caught. They can’t risk that, they still haven’t done all the things they wanted to do, still haven’t told the people around them that they loved them. Fuck, don’t think like that, nothing bad is going to happen, they’re going to escape, and everything will be fine. Yes, they just have to find the exit, and inform authorities, they’ll be fine, they just have to make it out of here.</p>
<p>The creature wasn’t relenting either, well, it can fly, that’s totally an unfair advantage. Arien was running out of breath, and their eyes were getting bleary. They felt dehydrated, maybe because of running, but also maybe because of the heat from the fire earlier. Arien stopped for a second, catching their breath. They rested their palm on a door. Panting harshly, the teen tries to get oxygen back into their lungs. As they regained their breath their eyes started to look at their surroundings once more, hoping to find clues about the place, and how to get out.</p>
<p>A thud in the end of the hallway almost made Arien yell, but they were quick enough to cover their mouth. Arien had to think fast. In their moment of panic, Arien opened the door and decided they’d hide in there untill it’s safe to come out.</p>
<p>Upon entering the room, they quickly realized it was some sort of library. Their eyes widened at the sight of floating books and chairs, but to be honest, after earlier? This was probably the most mundane thing that they had seen. In their awe, Arien had forgotten to shut the door, and the creature managed to catch up to them. Arien’s eyes widened and they backed away from the creature as it started to talk to them. It started to produce flames again and Arien froze in place. Their heart started pounding, and their brain is yelling at them to run, but their entire body would not comply.</p>
<p>Whip!</p>
<p>“Fugna!!” The creature yelled, as a whip wrapped around its body. Arien’s eyes widened as they saw a man walking towards them. The man was tall, and had dark silky hair, or was it greasy? He was pale, his skin looked like porcelain, if Arien wasn’t terrified they might’ve thought he was beautiful. He was wearing a mask, a top hat, and a feathery coat, he looked like a typical super villain with those glowing orbs of his underneath the mask.</p>
<p>Arien barely registered that the man was addressing them. All they saw was the mans purple lips moving. He snapped his fingers in front of their eyes, and said something in Japanese, Arien was finally annoyed. “何言っての？！“ Arien yelled at the man, “日本語わかないよ！！“</p>
<p>The man looked taken aback, and he placed a hand under his chin, “そうですか...” the man muttered, “ちょっと待てください,” Arien tilted their head as the man started chanting something. A bright glow surrounded Arien, and their entire body felt tingly. Something like this feels like it came straight out off a fantasy novel, this should not be possible. But, here they are, being surrounded by a glowing light, and a man chanting something in front of them. “There we go,” the man said.</p>
<p>“Huh?” Arien’s eyes widened, but then they immediately glared at the man. “You could speak English this whole time?!” They yelled at him, feeling frustrated.</p>
<p>“No, I cannot, I just placed a spell on you so we can understand each other,” he explained, placing his hands on his hips. “Ah, aren’t I just the nicest?” He mused to himself.</p>
<p>“Nice?!” Arien shouted, “you kidnapped me! How is that nice!” They continued.</p>
<p>“Kidnap?” The man asked, tilting his head , “you must be confused, the transportation must have disordered your memories. You came here by choice just like all the other students who have been chosen.”</p>
<p>“Students?” Arien asked the man.</p>
<p>“Yes, this is ‘Night Raven College’, a school where young gifted magicians gather, Twisted Wonderland’s most prestigious academy. I am the headmaster, “</p>
<p>“Crowley...” the two of them said at the same time.</p>
<p>“Ah, so you are starting to remember! That’s very good!” Crowley clapped, then tugging on the whip which still held the creature who is whining and trashing since god knows when. “Now that the problem is settled, we must hurry, we don’t want to miss the opening ceremony!” He said and started to walk, “oh, and please watch after your familiar from now on, we would like to avoid any problems in this school.”</p>
<p>“Wait, he’s not-“ before Arien could finish their sentence Crowley had already disappeared around a corner, “my familiar...” Arien finished, before sighing and running after the two.</p>
<p>Twisted Wonderland? Night Raven College? This must be all a dream, how can Arien be in that place? It’s a game, it’s not real. But if this really was the game, how the hell did they get here? Well, at least that means Arien would at least already know the names of some of the students in the school. “Haa, if this is a dream, please wake up soon.”</p>
<p>~~~~</p>
<p>As Arien and Crowley entered the mirror chamber, all of the other students were ready to leave. It seems the ceremony had just ended. Arien spotted a short boy with red hair, and they could guess that was Riddle, a lot of kids in their class seemed to have him as their ‘oshii’. Arien only noticed him because Crowley had started to talk to the redhead. To be perfectly honest, Arien was trying not to look at anyone in the room, in fear of confirming their suspicion, that they are somehow in the ‘Twisted Wonderland’ game.</p>
<p>“Ah, please stand before the mirror of darkness, I shall watch over your familiar,” Crowley said to Arien, tugging at the whip, making the creature protest. Arien walked in front of the mirror, staring nervously at the face that’s emerging from it.</p>
<p>“Speak thy name,” the mirror had said, it’s voice sounded so loud in Arien’s ears, can’t they turn down its voice? Please? thank you.</p>
<p>“Arien,” the teen stated after recovering from the mirrors loud voice.</p>
<p>“Arien... the shape of thy soul is...” the mirror stopped talking, the whole room became silent, and even Arien held their breath, suddenly feeling like a spotlight was over them. After a whole minute, the mirror finally spoke, “I do not know.”</p>
<p>“What did you say?” Crowley inqueried. The students started murmuring and Arien wanted to smash the mirror for putting the attention on them. Their gut was churning, they hated the feeling, the murmuring behind their back. They wanted to curl up and disappear. Though on the outside, Arien did not look phased whatsoever, one might even say they looked bored, they’re used to acting fine, no one knew that the teen was about to have a break down on the inside.</p>
<p>“I could not feel magic on this one. Neither colors, nor shape,” the mirror stated, and the whispers of the student got louder, “therefore, this one is unworthy for any dorm!” The room fell silent, and all eyes were on the magicless student with an irked expression in front of the mirror.</p>
<p>“That can’t be. In a 100 years, the carriage has not picked a student without magic. There has been no mistake,” Crowley muttered, “so why?” At that moment the cat-like creature broke free from the whip and started to shout.</p>
<p>“That’s why! Put me in the academy instead! Unlike that human I can use magic! See?” The creature shot out its flames.</p>
<p>Chaos ensues. Everyone started panicking, some had pieces of clothing caught on fire. Someone was telling everyone to take cover, but without stopping the source, that won’t solve anything.</p>
<p>“Someone catch that raccoon!!”</p>
<p>“My butt is on fire!!”</p>
<p>“Hey raccoon sir, stop please!”</p>
<p>“I’m not a raccoon !!” The creature shouted, spewing more of those blue flames, making the students run away from him.</p>
<p>“Someone please capture him!” Crowley had yelled. Arien somewhat picked up people arguing over who is going to catch the creature, but no one was actually doing anything. Prestigious magic school? Everyone here just looked like a stuck up kid who will panic at the first sign of danger. No ones even thinking of using water or magic to douse the fire.</p>
<p>“Fine I shall capture the raccoon,” someone said over the chaos.</p>
<p>“How many times do I have to say this! I am not a raccoon, my name is Grim! Grim!” The creature- Grim- had yelled out in anger. But a moment later there were two figures coming towards him, and Grim’s eyes widened as he ran away from the two.</p>
<p>Arien watches as the two run out the door, following the creature into the hallways, maybe they’d have a better luck out running him than Arien did. At least now no ones focused on Arien, because everyone was trying, and failing, to douse the fire the cat-creature-thing had started.</p>
<p>A few people started leading the students, and they started to make progress, finally putting out the fire. When they knew the fire could be put out, everyone calmed down and started helping each other put out the fire.</p>
<p>“Off with your head!!” There was a yell outside the door, and every student fell silent. Not to long later, two figures walked in with Grim. Seeing them now Arien realizes the figures were Riddle and Azul.</p>
<p>They handed the creature to Crowley and the man turned to Arien. “Do something about him! He’s your familiar right??”</p>
<p>“I’ve been trying to tell you! That thing isn’t mine!” Arien shouted, frustrated at the whole situation. How did this even happen, they should’ve never opened the game.</p>
<p>“Oh, well,” Crowley faked a cough, “then, we shall throw him out of the academy. I won’t turn him into stew, since I’m so nice,” as they were throwing out the cat, Arien could hear it faintly yelling something about being the greatest magician.</p>
<p>Arien tuned out everything else the rest of the ceremony, thinking of ways to survive if they were to be kicked out of the academy as well. A few moments later, Crowley had approached Arien with a slightly guilty look, “well then, Arien-san, it’s very regretful but...”</p>
<p>Arien lifted a hand up, telling him to stop, “Yes, I understand, I have no magic, I have to leave. Thanks,” Arien was actually sort of glad, maybe they can just end this nightmare right now.</p>
<p>“Right, the mirror of darkness will send you to your home land, if you will,” Crowley held out his hand to the front of the mirror, and Arien stood back in front of it. “Mirror of Darkness! Guide this one to where they belong!”</p>
<p>The two of them waited, but nothing happened. Arien gave Crowley a pointed look, and the man started to fake cough. “Right, let’s try again,” he said and repeated the same thing he said earlier.</p>
<p>“Nowhere,” the mirror said, and the two in the room were taken aback, “The place where this one belong, is nowhere in this world.”</p>
<p>“Ah really? This day is full of surprises. In my time as headmaster, this has never happened before.” Crowley poke, “hey, Arien-san, where are you from?”</p>
<p>“Brighton, United Kingdom,” Arien answered flatly, trying to keep their temper down. Just hold on a bit, this will all be over soon. They assured themself.</p>
<p>There was silence, and Arien was ready to punch the man for an answer, but then Crowley spoke up, “I’ve never heard of such a place before. I know all the birthplace of every student from all over the world. But I’ve never heard of that one before.”</p>
<p>“Then, how am I supposed to go home?” Arien questioned through gritted teeth. Crowley thought for a minute, then hooked and arm around Arien’s. Arien was about to complain but he cut them off.</p>
<p>“Let us investigate, to the library!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Compromise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Arien opened the door as a thunder suddenly boomed behind them. The teen jumped, mouth agape as the first drops of rain hit the ground, “it was clear a minute ago!” They shouted at the sky, as if it were sentient. Honestly, they wouldn’t be surprised if it were. Arien huffed and entered the dorm, closing the door behind them. As they entered the middle area of the place, something flashed before their eyes ‘Ramshackle Dorm : Lounge’. “Huh, fancy, I suppose.”</p>
<p>TL : DR </p>
<p>Don't go into abandoned buildings with creepy men kids.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ahh, if y'all still reading this, thank you so much! </p>
<p>I also want to say thanks to my friend for beta reading even though they're having exams!! Ilysm!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Arien and Crowley sat for hours in the library, reading through every single geography book that the library had to offer. Arien’s stomach churned more and more after every book they read. Arien had never seen that map anywhere before, much less any of the countries the book showed them. Yeah, Arien was totally screwed.</p>
<p>“Ah as I thought, there’s no such place that you speak of,” Crowley had stated. Arien could only glare at him, trying to refrain themself from strangling the man for taking them here. Then again, they didn’t know for sure, so this man could be innocent.</p>
<p>‘Unlikely, this guys shady as hell,’ Arien thought, staring at the man. Crowley stared back at them as if he’s trying to figure them out. Arien shifted in their seat feeling uncomfortable, ‘damn, stop staring at me you creep.’</p>
<p>After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Crowley finally spoke up, “you’re not lying, are you?” Arien gawked at that, they stared at Crowley as if he had grown another head.</p>
<p>“Why would I lie to you?! I clearly don’t want to be here!” Arien had slammed the book they were reading shut. “I just want to end this nightmare already!”</p>
<p>“Alright, alright, understood,” Crowley had cut them off before Arien could go into a full blown rant. “In that case, do you have anything that we can use to help identify you?”</p>
<p>Arien’s hand had moved to reach into their pocket. But their eyes widened when their hand was met with nothing. They looked down, and for the first time that night, fully noticed the fact that they were not in the clothes they used to go to bed. They were about to complain about who the fuck changed them when they were unconscious, but decided informing they had lost their phone was more important. “My, my phone isn’t here.”</p>
<p>“Wallet? Or identification card?” Crowley asked them.</p>
<p>Arien shook their head, “I don’t have any of my belongings with me.”</p>
<p>“This is a problem. I cannot let someone who cannot use magic to stay in this academy. However, to throw away a penniless youth without any way to contact their guardian extremely hurts my heart as an educator,” Crowley contemplated, “I’m kind, after all,” he continued, stroking his own ego.</p>
<p>Arien stared at the man with the most unamused face they could muster. “Well, what are you going to do, then?” Arien questioned. Deep down they were sort of glad that the man won’t kick them out with nowhere to go, in a world that’s completely different from their own.</p>
<p>“Hmm,” Crowley hummed, seemingly deep in thought, “right!” He suddenly exclaimed, “in this academy, there's a building that's unused. In the past, it was used as a dorm, so if you clean it you should be able to at least lodge there,” Crowley informed, “if it's there, I shall lend it to you as temporary lodging for a while. In that time, you should look for a way to return to where you came from.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah, that sounds good,” Arien sighed suddenly feeling exhausted. The offer of a place to rest sounded amazing to Arien.</p>
<p>Crowley stood up, offering his hand, “well then,” Arien took the mans hand, though slightly hesitant. The raven haired man helped the teen up. “Shall we go?”</p>
<p>~~~~~~</p>
<p>The man took Arien through a mirror, ‘that’s the second time today,’ they thought. Upon exiting the mirror, Arien was met by a mansion-like building, it was old and slightly creepy, but somehow mesmerizing. Crowley noticed the teen’s awe and declared, “it’s beautiful is it not? You jut have to clean the place a bit and it should be good to live in.”</p>
<p>Arien walked towards the front porch of the building, staring up at the statues perched on the pillars. “Creepy,” they muttered.</p>
<p>“Well, we must part here. I will do some more investigating, while you get used to the place,” Crowley said from the front yard, he waved at the teen before disappearing through the mirror again.</p>
<p>Arien opened the door as a thunder suddenly boomed behind them. The teen jumped, mouth agape as the first drops of rain hit the ground, “it was clear a minute ago!” They shouted at the sky, as if it were sentient. Honestly, they wouldn’t be surprised if it were. Arien huffed and entered the dorm, closing the door behind them. As they entered the middle area of the place, something flashed before their eyes ‘Ramshackle Dorm : Lounge’. “Huh, fancy, I suppose.”</p>
<p>Arien’s golden eyes started to dart around the room. It was dark and dusty, most of the furniture was covered with a white sheet, probably hadn’t been used in years. There was a dripping noise down the hallway somewhere, most likely a leak. “This place needs to be renovated,” the teen sighed, “better than nothing, I guess.”</p>
<p>CRASH</p>
<p>A loud noise came down another hallway, followed with howling, like something in pain. “Great! Isn’t that great, this place is haunted,” Arien cursed under their breath, before walking towards the source of the noise. The noise got louder the farther Arien walked, it sounded more like whining now, and it was annoying.</p>
<p>“Nyowww!” Arien turned the corner, ready to be met with a ghost or something, but what greeted them was disappointing, to say the least. There was, the creature that Crowley had kicked out, rolling on the ground because it got wet from a leak.</p>
<p>Arien strolled over to it and pulled it by the bow on its neck, “oi, cat-thing, didn’t you get kicked out?” Arien asked in a flat tone. The creature hissed at them, and started thrashing around.</p>
<p>“I’m not a cat! I’m Grim-sama and I will become the greatest magician!” Grim yelled, and continued to thrash. “Those idiots don’t know what they’re doing! How dare they kick The Great Grim-Sama out!”</p>
<p>Arien rolled their eyes and let the creature go, “well, I don’t give a shit. If you wanna stay you can, just don’t make a fu-“</p>
<p>“Oh? What’s this?” A voice echoed through the halls. The teen and the creature looked at each other as they paled at the realization the voice did not come from either of them.</p>
<p>“Human, you didn’t say that did you?” Grim asked slowly, his blue orbs going into slits. Arien was almost amused, he’s a cat after all.</p>
<p>But they didn’t get the chance to comment on it as the voice continued, “it’s been a while since we had guests!!” The voice got louder. It was coming from every direction of the dorm. A crash from down the hall. Then another. And another. The noise getting closer each time, like someone was running towards them.</p>
<p>One loud crash next to the two, and a vase crashed towards the floor. Was it ancient? It probably was cursed or something, and now they’re fucked. “Everyone who came here leaves us,” a voice whispered directly into Arien’s ear. The teen flinched and looked behind them to see nothing.</p>
<p>“Hahaha, where are you looking at?” Another voice laughed. Arien growled and turn back to their original position. Their eyes widened as a white slender figure appeared right in front of their face. Cheeks hollow and eyes too wide, the figure had no nose and it was smiling at them, teeth white and perfect, too perfect that the teen thought it wasn’t normal.</p>
<p>“AHHH!” Grim yelled, blowing his fire at the figure, effectively making it disappear. Arien fell to the ground, panting. They had to get out of here, “human! Don’t just sit there!” Grim yelled blowing fire everywhere as more figures appeared and disappeared.</p>
<p>Arien stood up, feet still shaky, but the more Arien saw them, the less scared they became. The ravenette took in a shaky breath, and closed their eyes. At that moment the creature shot it’s fire, aiming at a figure that appeared behind the teen. The cat didn’t have much control, resulting in the fire singeing the hood of the robe Arien was wearing. “Watch it!” The teen yelled, hitting the hood to make sure it wasn’t burning.</p>
<p>“You were in the way!” Grim yelled back.</p>
<p>“Well if you could control your fire!”</p>
<p>“I don’t see you helping! You useless human!”</p>
<p>“At least I’m not burning the place down!”</p>
<p>The two started to bicker, forgetting the reason the cat was firing in the first place. The two’s bickering got louder and louder, but suddenly fell silent. As a giggle rang through the dark corridors. Arien’s vision became blurry, and they shook their head, rubbing their eyes to clear their vision. But when it cleared, there was a countdown displayed in front of their face. “Huh?”</p>
<p>“Boo!” A ghost appeared along with a blue orb of some sort. Arien flinched and the ghost disappeared with the word ‘miss’ flashing in front of Arien’s eyes. A second later Arien saw a red orb moving towards Grim, and an empty red circle next to the creature. When the orb entered the circle a ghost appeared and disappeared, and the word ‘miss’ appeared once more.</p>
<p>Arien’s jaw dropped as their head made a connection between the orbs, the ghosts, and the rhythm game system this game had. Arien vaguely remembered Haydenn playing it in front of them once. Understanding the situation Arien called out to the cat, “Hey, cat! Do you see that blue circle?!”</p>
<p>“What blue circle?!” Grim yelled back, not even commenting on the fact Arien called him a cat.</p>
<p>“That one above you!” They exclaimed. The creature looked up and then back down at the teen.</p>
<p>“There’s no-“ Grim started, but a ghost appeared at the spot the circle was and scared the cat. “Fugna!!”</p>
<p>Arien fell silent, ‘he can’t see it.’ Arien shook their head as they saw another red circle next to them. “Grim! Listen to me! When I tell you fire at the space right next to me!” The cat looked confused but nodded. 3, 2, 1, “NOW!”</p>
<p>As the teen said it, a ghost appeared next to them but was immediately shot away by the fire. Arien grinned. They’ve found a way to win this ‘fight’. “Now! Behind you!” Arien told the cat, and it shot flames at a ghost that had appeared behind him. They found a rhythm after that, Arien counting down the seconds of when the ghost would appear, and pinpointing the place to fire.</p>
<p>“We’re gonna get erased! Run!” The ghosts told each other and disappeared completely. Arien panted, eyes blinking rapidly as the words ‘SS’ appeared in bold pink font in front of their eyes.</p>
<p>“WOO! We won!” Grim cheered, “no, I won!!” Arien didn’t even want to comment on it. They just wanted to pass out. The teen dropped to the floor, their eyes no longer flashing the words, but the world around them seemed so blurry.</p>
<p>There was a knock and footsteps, and Arien couldn’t bring themself to get up again. “Good evening,” a familiar voice said from around the corner, “the kind me has brought you dinner,” Crowley said as he came into view. Was it Crowley? To Arien he just looked like a black blob.</p>
<p>“Fugna!” At sight of the headmaster, Grim flew behind the teen and hid. Only peeking his head out from behind them.</p>
<p>“Wait,” Crowley said as he noticed Grim, “Isn’t that the monster we kicked out at the opening ceremony?” Arien heard Grim complain, and started to explain their situation. Arien closed their eyes, just listening in for any important info. Arien’s ears only perked up when Crowley asked them to show him how they exterminated the ghosts. Tiredly, Arien glared at him, but their eyes were already flashing the count down once more.</p>
<p>“What’s in it for me,” Arien stated in a sharp tone. The countdown was at 20.</p>
<p>“I might consider letting you stay in the academy, since I am so kind,” Crowley had told them. That made Grim grin, and he was so ready to do whatever the headmaster told him.</p>
<p>“Ass kisser,” Arien muttered. The count down was at the 5 second mark. Arien sighed and stood up, focusing for the circles. “Fine, just make it quick.”</p>
<p>“Attack me with all you got!” Crowley stated before disappearing. Arien counted for the orbs, it was fairly slow.</p>
<p>‘He’s going easy on us,’ they thought, as their eyes fixed on a blue circle. “Now Grim! On your left!” They told them, a fraction of seconds before Crowley appeared right on Grim’s left. The cat blew his fire at him, Crowley disappeared.</p>
<p>Arien’s eyes widened, this time there were two circles and three orbs, two reds, one blue. “Okay listen to me carefully,” Arien stated as the first orb neared the circle, “right, right, left!” Grim blew his fire in that sequence. It went like that for a while, with Crowley picking up speed, but the circles and orbs followed Crowley, no matter how fast the man got.</p>
<p>After a bit more, the ‘SS’ re-appeared in front of Arien’s eyes, and they panted. “It’s over.”</p>
<p>“Impressive,” Crowley mused, “not only did you know all the places I was going to appear in, but you also know when I’ve decided to stop.”</p>
<p>“Yeah well, there’s this weird orb that follows you around, you should check for that. People will defeat you easily,” Arien stated matter of fact-ly. Which confused both Crowley and Grim.</p>
<p>“Orb?” The headmaster asked, “there is no such thing.”</p>
<p>“Then what was the thing following you?” Arien asked back.</p>
<p>“Hmm,” Crowley thought for a moment, “do you still see them now?” The man asked. Arien shook their head, signaling ‘no’. “It seems the ‘orbs’ only appear when you’re in danger. That’s how you defeated the ghosts too, right?”</p>
<p>“Right...” Arien answered, a bit confused. “So, only I can see the orbs?”</p>
<p>“It seems so, I have never heard of a magician with such power.” They were all silent for a moment.</p>
<p>“Hey, can the cat stay with me?” Arien had asked. Which led to both Grim and Crowley to stare at them like they had said the most absurd thing. “I mean, this ‘power’ is useless if I don’t have anything to defend myself with. So the cat would be useful.” Arien stated, “also, it’s really creepy here, I don’t mind the company...” they muttered the last part, avoiding eye contact with either of the people in the room with them.</p>
<p>“Sigh, there’s no helping it,” Crowley stated. Grim looked up at him with glowing hopeful eyes. “However, There's no way I can let someone who was not chosen by the Mirror of Darkness... a monster, at that, to enroll into the school. You too, Arien-san. I cannot let you to just freeload until you can go back to your own world.”</p>
<p>“Well, who’s fault is it I’m here in the first place?!” Arien asked, “and didn’t you say we could stay if we showed you how we beat the ghosts?!”</p>
<p>“Ah, yes, that was motivation,” he said cheekily. Arien really wanted to punch this guy in the face. “And yes, we, the academy, are also responsible for the summoning of your soul, as the one owning the Mirror of Darkness. In any case, for the time being, we will offer you this lodging for free.” Crowley explained, “However, we'll have you pay for your living necessities by yourself. As for what someone empty-handed like you can give...”</p>
<p>Arien immediately scooted back, away from the creep of a man. Crowley seemed to laugh at Arien’s defensive stance, back pressed to the farthest part of the wall, an arm over their face to shield themself. Crowley shook his head and spoke, “you don't have to be that on guard. I'm only going to make you do odd jobs like maintenance within the school. Judging from your appearance, Arien-san, you seem to be quite good at cleaning. For starters, what about you two teaming up as the ‘handymen’?“ Crowley offered.</p>
<p>“No,” Arien stated flatly.</p>
<p>“Well, if you do that, I will give you a special permission to stay inside the school. I will also permit you to use the library to gather information on ways to go back to your world, as well as to study. I am kind, after all. However, it is only after you finish your work.” Crowley continued, as if Arien hadn’t already blatantly rejected the offer. At the teens golden glaring eyes, the man let out a chuckle, “Of course I will still help with the investigation part. And I won’t make you work an unreasonable amount.”</p>
<p>“Ehh?! I don't wanna! I also want to wear that cool uniform and become a student!” Grim whined.</p>
<p>Crowley looked at the whining cat and the glaring teenager. He let out a smirk, “If you're unsatisfied, then it's alright. We only have to throw you out again.”</p>
<p>At that Grim’s eyes widened and looked at Arien, “human! Do something!”</p>
<p>“Why should I care? That’s your problem,” the ravenette growled at the cat.</p>
<p>“Of course that goes for you too, Arien-san. If you refuse, we cannot let you stay here.” Crowley told them.</p>
<p>Arien’s eyes widened for a split second, that Crowley thought he might’ve imagined it. The teen closed their eyes, as if weighing their options. A few moments later Arien clicked their tongue and opened their eyes to glare at Crowley once more. “Fine.”</p>
<p>Crowley raised his brow, “fine?”</p>
<p>“I’ll be the stupid ‘handy-man’.”</p>
<p>Crowley grinned, stretching out his hand for a hand shake. Arien accepted it, still glaring daggers at the man. “Well then, starting tomorrow, work hard as Night Raven College's handymen!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Destroying School Property Is Fun</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“I'm Ace. A first year student starting from today,” he said in a sing-song voice, “take care of me well~!” He finished, winking at the magicless student and monster-cat in front of him. Arien might’ve just threw up in their mouth. Gross.</p><p>TL:DR</p><p>High school students are dumbasses</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I used the term taller very lightly here, since Deuce is literally only ONE centimeter taller than Ace.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Every person in NRC seemed to snicker at the sight of the two. Arien couldn’t actually blame them, despite being the only ‘normal’ one, in their opinion, they stuck out like a sore thumb. In a school full of magical students, being magicless definitely made them the odd one out.</p><p>Also the fact that there was a floating cat-raccoon-whatever floating next to them, seeming to whine at every possible moment. Also maybe because they were the only ones without a uniform.</p><p>Crowley woke them up this morning, reminding them they had to work. After a long chat over what exactly the were supposed to do, Crowley gave them clothes to change, in his words, “the ceremonial robes should not be dirtied!” Arien couldn’t care less, they had slept in the robes, it probably already had dust, drool, and cat hair on it. But they complied and took the clothes the man gave them. It was a black sleeveless turtle-neck (which honestly reminded them of the stargazing event thing), a dark grey jacket, which had a bit of teal inside of the hood, and a pair of leggings.</p><p>Earlier, Arien had just wanted to get out of the robe, because it was honestly dirty and smelt bad from yesterday's events. But now, Arien sort of wished they kept on the robe, for it were at least a uniform, people wouldn’t stare at them as much, at least that’s what they hoped.</p><p>In truth, everyone would recognize them after yesterday. Not only the mirror the had declared that they were ‘unworthy’ in front of everyone, but for once Arien hated having an eye-catching hair style. Their roots are black, down to the parts around their eyebrow, then the color fades into a seafoam blue, almost teal. Arien always loved the dye job, but now it feels like that helped everyone recognize them easier.</p><p>Grim didn’t seem to mind the attention, and was chatting idly about the area. “I didn't get a good look yesterday, but what's with these statues?” Grim questioned.</p><p>“Hell if I know,” Arien grumbled, keeping their eyes down on the road. Would the ground disappear if Arien glared at it enough? Probably not.</p><p>“There’s seven statues, all of them look scary,” Grim continued, did he ignore Arien or did he just not hear them? “This one here, looks especially self-important,” Grim stated pointing at a statue.</p><p>Arien rolled their eyes and was about to tell the cat to keep moving, but someone had cut in their ‘conversation’ (Grim talking to himself, while Arien grumbled next to him), “you don't know the Queen of Hearts?” Arien looked up for the first time that morning. There in front of them was a boy, he had an easy smile on his face, a heart painted perfectly over his left eye. He had his hands on his hips, and Arien noticed how he only wore one glove. Did this guy think that was fashionable or something?</p><p>“Queen of Hearts? Is she an important person?” Asked Grim, to which the boy replied with a lengthy explanation. He looked animated as he talked, hands moving around as he explained, grin staying on his face as if he genuinely enjoyed telling the cat stories about the statue. His messy orange-red hair bounced around with every little movement he made.</p><p>The more Arien stared at him the more they noticed how messy he was. Not only the gloves and hair, but his tie was slightly crooked, one of his shoelaces were untied, and his clothes were slightly wrinkled, although, Arien wouldn’t have noticed the wrinkles if he weren’t standing right in front of them. Arien glanced back at his face, ‘didn’t this guy look in a mirror before coming here? He’s a mess.’</p><p>Grim seemed the give a comment about the statue, and the redhead seemed to laugh about something, “by the way, who are you?” Grim asked the boy.</p><p>“I'm Ace. A first year student starting from today,” he said in a sing-song voice, “take care of me well~!” He finished, winking at the magicless student and monster-cat in front of him. Arien might’ve just threw up in their mouth. Gross.</p><p>“Well, I am the great Grim-Sama! I'm a genius who'll become a great magician! And this dull human is Arien, my henchm—!” Arien smacked the cat. Hard.</p><p>They grabbed the creature by his ear, eye twitching as they spoke through gritted teeth, “who’re you calling a henchmen?”</p><p>“Fugna!!” Grim yelped. Ace stared at the two, his expression unreadable, he’s still grinning, but it didn’t seem to reach his eyes. Grim managed to struggle out of Arien’s grip, and floated near Ace instead, asking him about the statues again.</p><p>Arien glared at the cat but didn’t seem to come after him anymore. They chose to look at the statues as Ace explained to Grim. Arien could recognize these statues as their favorite childhood villains. Maleficent, Hades, Evil Queen, Jafar, Ursula, Scar, Queen of Hearts, they were definitely a lot of peoples childhood villains. “Guess they’re real here...” the teen had murmured, eyeing Maleficent in particular.</p><p>Grim seemed so interested in whatever this Ace dude was saying. “They’re so cool right~?” Ace asked in an overly sweet voice. Grim nodded at him, “unlike a certain raccoon,” the boy's tone dropped, his once easy smile turned into a malicious one.</p><p>“Fugna?!” Grim let out a confused yelp as the boy started laughing.</p><p>“Pfft, I can’t hold it anymore!” He was gripping his stomach from laughing so much. Arien just rolled their eyes at the cat’s betrayed expression. What did you expect you dumb cat, no one is that kind. “You guys are the ones who caused a riot during the opening ceremony, right? A guy who got called in front of the mirror but actually couldn't use magic, and the monster barging in even though he didn't get invited! Man it was so hard to stop myself from laughing during the opening ceremony!” He continued to laugh.</p><p>“What a rude guy!” Grim hissed at the boy.</p><p>“And, in the end you both couldn't get into the school so you became handymen? Haha, lame,” he mocked. Arien thought Grim was dumb for innocently trusting the redhead, but this kid was also getting on their nerves. “I called you out to tease you a bit, but you guys exceeded my expectations~!” the redhead continued, ending his laughter. “Well, I have classes unlike you guys, so, bye! Work hard cleaning, you two~!”</p><p>There was suddenly a count down in front of Arien’s eyes, “not again,” they groaned.</p><p>“This guy! He crossed the line! I'm angry now!” Grim yelled and blew fire towards the redhead's direction.</p><p>“Hey!! That’s dangerous! What the hell are you doing!?” The boy yelled, patting his shoulder since it caught on fire. Arien was surprised to see instead of the orbs and circles like last night, it showed stats above Grim’s and Ace’s heads, HP and ATK. Arien focused next to Ace and saw exactly what type of magic he was going to use to fight back.</p><p>“What the hell,” Arien mouthed, as the cat and the boy bickered. Arien didn’t have time to react as Grim produced another round of flames and Ace managed to redirect it using his wind magic. People were gathering around them, but no one else had the HP bar above their head. Does it only appear for people who were fighting? can the others see it?</p><p>“Ah shit!” Arien heard Ace yell, as the fire he was redirecting hit the Queen of Hearts statue. Shit indeed, this was bad. Everything was silent, the boy and the cat looked at each other, then back at the statue, it was honestly almost comedic. But then, the silence broke. The two began yelling at each other, pointing fingers and blaming the other for what had happened.</p><p>“What’s with all this racket?!” Crowley had appeared, and everyone who circled them to watch the fight had run away. Arien was busy blinking their eyes as the words ‘battle end’ flashed in front of them. The world was blurry for a moment and Arien hadn’t notice Crowley scolding them for not supervising Grim. “Rien-san, Arien-San!” Arien finally snapped their eyes towards Crowley.</p><p>“Y-yes?” Arien worded out, somehow the word didn’t feel real to them.</p><p>“Did you hear what I said?” Crowley queried. The answer was no, but Arien just nodded slowly. Crowley seemed to take it and turned his attention to the redhead. “You, what's your year and name?”</p><p>“Ace Trappola,” the boy stated. God no, Arien knew enough from their friends that he was a main character. No, please, Arien didn’t need to deal with a jackass like him. “I'm a first year,” Ace had finished.</p><p>“Well then, you three,” Crowley started, “as a punishment, I order you to clean 100 windows!”</p><p>~~~~</p><p>In the end, they had to agree on the punishment. Since the other option was getting kicked out, for Grim and Arien, or getting expelled, for Ace. So here Arien and Grim were, sitting in the cafeteria, waiting for the jackass to come.</p><p>An hour passed, and still no sign of the redhead.</p><p>“He ditched us,” Arien growled standing up from their seat. “The fucking audacity,” Arien didn’t finish the sentence, but Grim could guess it was going to be a string of curses and insults directed towards that Ace-jerk. Arien looked back at the cat, they had the creepiest grin plastered on their face, “c’mon rat, let’s find the ass-hat and teach him a lesson.”</p><p>Grim grinned at the thought of revenge and followed Arien out, before it hit him, “did you just call me a rat?!” Arien only laughed as they continued walking through the halls.</p><p>The two entered a class, looking to see if the redhead would be there. To their dismay, he wasn’t. “Whom are you looking for?” A voice asked. Arien turned their head to see a painting talking to them. Somehow, they weren’t surprised.</p><p>“Have you seen a boy? He’s this tall,” Arien reached up half a head above their own, “clearly gay but we haven’t had the talk yet-“ they snickered. But the painting and cat looked at them like they’re the weirdest thing in the room.</p><p>“I’m sorry?” The painting questioned.</p><p>“Erm, I mean,” Arien stated, “let me rephrase that,” Arien gave the painting the sweetest smile they could muster, “hi, have you seen a boy? He has really messy red-orange hair, pretty pale, was only wearing one glove, and he has a bright red heart painted over his left eye.”</p><p>“Ah yes, I’ve seen him. He just left for the dorms a few minutes ago,” the painting informed them, “he should still be in the hall of mirrors.”</p><p>“Thank you very much!” The teen exclaimed, grabbing the cat and running off to where they remembered the hall of mirrors was.</p><p>Upon entering the room they spotted the redhead walking towards a mirror, “oh no you don’t!” Arien exclaimed, running towards him. The redhead noticed and immediately ran the other way.</p><p>“Stop right there!!” Grim yelled at him.</p><p>“No can do! I really don’t have time to stop! See ya~!” Ace exclaimed, as he kept running away from the pair.</p><p>“Running away alone isn’t fair! I want to skip too!!” Grim whined, and Arien gave him a side glare, which shut him up for the most part. As the two chased him, they saw a dark haired boy entering the hall from the left wing, where Ace was heading.</p><p>“Get out of the way!!” The redhead yelled.</p><p>“Huh??” The dark haired boy stared at the other, confused.</p><p>“Hey dumbass! Don’t just stand there! Catch him!” Arien told the boy. His blue eyes widened and he looked from Arien to the redhead approaching him.</p><p>“U-using magic?” The boy asked.</p><p>“No, using your face,” Arien stated flatly which confused the boy, and he just stood there. Arien growled, “Of course using magic, dumbass! What else do you have!”</p><p>The boy seemed to panic as Ace was almost directly in front of him. He took out his pen and pointed it at the redhead, “R-right! Umm, err...” he hesitated for a second, “oh! Come forth! Cauldron!”</p><p>“Ahhh!” At that moment, a giant cauldron dropped over Ace, pinning him to the ground. Arien skidded to a halt at the redheads unmoving body.</p><p>“Are you insane?!” The teen yelled, “I asked you to catch him! Not break his fucking spine!” Arien knelt down to push off the cauldron, but it vanished into thin air before they could.</p><p>“Oh, was that too much?” The dark haired boy asked, kneeling next to them to check if the redhead was okay.</p><p>“Seriously?” Arien looked at him with an unamused look. But they quickly turned back to the redhead and shook his shoulder, “hey, Ace, are you dead?” When their question was met with a groan, Arien sighed in relief.</p><p>Ace flipped himself over so he was staring at Arien and the kid that almost killed him. “What the fuck man,” Ace snapped at the dark haired boy. He ruffled his own hair, then moved to sit on his knees. He hissed as he did so, yeah that was going to be a nasty bruise. He sighed an looked over at Arien, “can’t you clean the 100 windows yourself?”</p><p>“No,” Arien answered sharply, glaring at the boy.</p><p>“You have to clean one hundred windows as a punishment? What did you guys even do?” The blue-eyed boy asked, giving them a questioning look.</p><p>“When I was messing around with the furball this morning,” Ace started, “the statue of the Queen of Hearts might have gotten a teeny bit burnt,” he highlighted on the teeny part by lifting his hand and pressing his index and thumb together.</p><p>The dark haired boy gaped at the two of them, “you damaged one of the statues of the Great Seven!? Obviously you'd get in trouble!” The boy said in shock, “you just got enrolled in this prestigious school! What were you thinking?!” He scolded.</p><p>Ace brushed him off with a scowl, “well, whatever,” he grumbled. The redhead looked at the boy and questioned, “who are you anyway?”</p><p>“I'm Deuce. Deuce Spade,” the boy- Deuce- introduced himself. “Why don't you try to remember the faces of your classmates? Um,” there was an awkward silence as Deuce hung off his sentence.</p><p>Ace deadpanned, “You don’t remember me either, do you?” Ace asked, which was met with an annoyed ‘shut up’ from Deuce. They bickered for a bit and Arien looked around. Wait. Something was missing.</p><p>“Hey, you two,” Arien said, cutting the two off. Red and blue eyes landed on them, waiting for the teen to continue. “Have you seen Grim?” They all looked around and saw no sign of the cat-monster. The three stood up and looked around a bit.</p><p>“He’s over there!” Deuce stated, pointing at the direction of the main street.</p><p>“Hehe! I'll leave the rest up to you guys! Bye bye!” Grim waved, before flying of somewhere.</p><p>Ace ran out and growled, “damn him! He took my place!” He turned around and fixed his gaze on Deuce, “hey you, uh, Juice! Help me catch the furball!”</p><p>Deuce looked offended at Ace’s words, “My name is not Juice! It’s Deuce! Deu!”</p><p>“Yeah, whatever, help me catch him.”</p><p>“Why do I have to?!”</p><p>“Because this was your fault, and the other option is a dull useless human who can’t use magic!” Ace exclaimed pointing at Arien.</p><p>To which the teen walked up to him and pulled him down by the tie, “you want to say that to my face, Trappola?” The ravenette growled. Their grip on his tie hurt, and their faces were uncomfortably close that he could feel their breath fanning over his lips and nose.</p><p>“No, uh, I said nothing,” the redhead chuckled, nervously lifting both of his hands to show he surrendered.</p><p>Arien let go of the tie and pushed him away. “I may be magicless, but you have no right to think you’re any better than me,” the teen stated walking past the two boys, towards the direction Grim had headed. “If you two want to help catch him, you’re free to,” they stated, “but don’t hold me back.”</p><p>The two boys unconsiously gulped. Looking at each other, they nodded and ran after the seafoam haired teen.</p><p>The three of them looked around campus to see any sign of the furball, they quickly found him loitering around the fountain in Main Street. When the three stepped in front of him, Grim yelped and made a run for it.</p><p>“Hey stop right there!!” Ace yelled after the furball.</p><p>“No way static-hair!” Grim had yelled as he started to fly instead. The three chased after him, but in the middle Arien lagged behind, the countdown sequence had started yet again. When they looked up, there was a red and blue circle, and Ace and Deuce were casting spells left and right with Grim flying through them. The word ‘miss’ kept flashing even if they closed their eyes.</p><p>Arien could hear the boys bickering and Grim laughing as the orbs moved faster and faster, and misses popping up everywhere. Arien was getting nauseous. Their eyes could barely keep up with the flashes of red and blue. They didn’t know what to do.</p><p>The next thing they knew someone had grabbed their arm, and their legs were moving. Arien closed their eyes as they let whoever this person was lead them to where they had to go. “Come on! After all that talk about not being useless! You can’t back out now!” Arien heard a voice, from the tone they could tell it was Ace, they were still running. But he wasn’t the one puling them along, his voice sounded too far to be directly in front of them.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Deuce glared at Ace as they kept running, but he was addressing the question towards Arien. So the one holding them was Deuce, his voice sounded closer than Ace’s. Arien kept their eyes close as they nodded. Neither of the boys asked them anymore questions after that.</p><p>The three soon came to a halt, and Arien finally opened their eyes. Upon opening them the usual ‘SS’ did not show up, instead it showed a ‘C’ and Arien didn’t know what that meant. The teen blinked their eyes a few times to clear their vision. They noticed the three of them were in the cafeteria, with Grim dangling of the chandelier and Ace under him yelling at the cat.</p><p>Deuce shot the shorter teen a look, but Arien couldn’t tell what the expression was through their still slightly blurry vision. The taller boy let their arm go and jogged towards where Ace was. Arien followed after their eyes had completely gone back to normal. As they neared them, they could hear they were arguing about something.</p><p>Suddenly Deuce pointed his pen at the redhead, and Ace began to float. The shorter boy clearly looked panicked as he went higher and higher. “Don’t tell me,” Arien started, but their sentence didn’t finish as their suspicion was confirmed, and Deuce had flung Ace towards the chandelier, effectively bringing Grim down.</p><p>A long with the entire ceiling surrounding the chandelier.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Getting Expelled On The First Day Is A Really Dumb Thing To Do</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“Let’s give up,” Ace declared, controlling his breathing. “I’d rather get expelled than fight that thing!”</p>
<p>“What?! Don’t screw around!” Deuce growled, clenching his fists. “I’d rather die than face expulsion!”</p>
<p>“Then just die alone!” Ace snapped, glaring at the boy. The redhead then proceeded to go up the other’s space eyeing him down, “you know, you talk big for someone who’s worse at magic than me.” Arien could’ve sworn they saw Deuce’s pupils turn into slits.</p>
<p>TL:DR</p>
<p>Sexual tension the musical</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Shit finally goes down!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Deuce had flung Ace towards the chandelier, effectively bringing Grim down. A long with the entire ceiling surrounding the chandelier.</p>
<p>A moment of silence passed. Ace was wincing from the glass shards under him, Deuce looked petrified with his actions, and Grim looked like he was about to barf, before passing out. Arien was just standing there with wide eyes like a deer in headlights. No one moved.</p>
<p>“What… in… the… world…” a voice came from the doorway. All four of them looked up towards the voice, to see the headmaster standing there with a bewildered look.</p>
<p>“H-headmaster,” Ace croaked out nervously.</p>
<p>“As if damaging one of the stone statues wasn’t enough, now you’ve gone and destroyed the chandelier!?” The headmaster sounded furious, understandably so. The teenagers flinched at the tone the headmaster spoke in, “I can no longer tolerate this,” Crowley continued in a slightly calmer tone. He looked down, specifically towards the two students, who both were looking at him nervously. “All of you are expelled!”</p>
<p>“What?!?!” The two boys exclaimed. Red and blue scrambled towards the feathered man, sputtering out apologies and pleas. Arien felt bad, but it was ultimately the two boys’ faults for being reckless.</p>
<p>“No! Please, could you forgive me just this once?” Deuce had pleaded, his voice shaking, “I- I have something I need to do at this school!” Ace gave the dark haired boy a look, but Arien couldn’t tell what it was from where they were standing.</p>
<p>But Crowley stood his ground, arms crossed as he metaphorically brought down the hammer, “This is the consequence for your actions. You can only blame yourself for behaving like a fool.“</p>
<p>Deuce clenched his fists. Arien caught Ace reaching his hand towards the taller boy, he hesitated, but in the end, he let his hand drop back to his side. A second later, Deuce had looked at Crowley straight in the eye, “I’ll do anything to make it up if it would just get you to forgive me!”</p>
<p>“This chandelier was no ordinary chandelier, this was an enchanted chandelier! It was powered by magic, and its candles were never supposed to burn out for all of eternity!” Crowley exclaimed, “It had been passed down ever since this academy was founded…” he continued, “Considering its historical value, it would be worth no less than one billion madols. Could you make that up?”</p>
<p>“O-One billion…!?” Deuce gaped, no normal student has that amount of money. Unless he’s some kind of trust fund kid (Arien actually thought he was when they met), there was no way the two boys could make up for that, even with Arien, the three of them wouldn’t be able to pay for the chandelier.</p>
<p>“But, can’t we just fix it with magic, headmaster?” Ace asked, trying to find another option that didn’t involve them being in debt for the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>“Magic is not all-powerful. Moreover, the magic stone, which could be called the heart of the magical artifact, broke. No two magic stones are the same. This chandelier might not be able to light up again,” Crowley explained.</p>
<p>“No,” Ace muttered, looking down at his shoes.</p>
<p>“Damn it… What was I doing…?” Deuce whispered to himself, “how am I going to tell Mom…?”</p>
<p>Arien grabbed the unconscious monster-cat, and walked over to the three silent figures. “It was my fault,” three pairs of eyes landed on the teen. “If I had kept an eye on Grim, none of this would’ve happened,” the ravenette continued, “so, please let them go, I will take responsibility.”</p>
<p>The two boys stared at them with wide eyes.</p>
<p>Crowley stared at the three teenagers and cat, his expression unreadable. There was another uncomfortable silence, before Crowley sighed, “actually, There might be a way to fix the chandelier- but only one.” All eyes were on the headmaster, gleaming with hope. “The magic stone that was used in the chandelier was found at the Dwarfs’ Mine. If you were to obtain a stone that has the same properties, we might be able to repair it.”</p>
<p>“I’ll go get the magic stone! Please let me go!” Deuce exclaimed.</p>
<p>Crowley lifted a hand up, to stop Deuce, “However,” he stated firmly, “I’m not certain there are any magic stones left in the mines. It’s has been a long time since the mine closed. Therefore there is a high chance that all of the magic stones have already been dug up.”</p>
<p>“I don't care!” Deuce shook his head, “I’ll do anything if it means I won’t have to be expelled!” Both Ace and Arien stared at the dark haired boy, is he that desperate that he’s willing to go on a wild goose chase?</p>
<p>Crowley seemed to notice the other two’s dismay, “I will not allow you to go alone,” Crowley stated, “and your two companions seems adamant.”</p>
<p>Deuce turned around to glare at the two, and something about his expression promised pain if they were to back out. Neither was about to take any chances, so they just sighed and agreed to come along.</p>
<p>Crowley sighed at the youngman’s determination, “Very well. Then I will wait only for one night. If you do not bring me the magic stone by tomorrow morning, you all will be expelled.”</p>
<p>“Yes!” Deuce nodded, “Thank you!”</p>
<p>“Ah, geez… Guess I got no choice,” Ace grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Alright, let’s go get that magic stone.”</p>
<p>“There’s no helping it, is there,” Arien sighed, glaring down at the unconscious cat, “and the one that caused this is just sleeping idly.”</p>
<p>“You can get to the Dwarfs’ Mine in an instant if you use the gate in the Mirror Chamber,” Crowley informed the teens.</p>
<p>“Yessir!” Deuce exclaimed, grabbing a hold of both the redhead and ravenette, dragging the two (three with the sleeping Grim) towards the Mirror Chamber.</p>
<p>As the three left, Crowley shook his head, slightly bemused. “Sigh, too bad they’ll most-likely fail,” Crowley sighed rubbing his face, “better to start on the expulsion papers.”</p>
<p>~~~~~</p>
<p>“Ah, geez…Why did things turn out like this? I’ve had so much bad luck today…” Ace groaned as they passed through the mirror. He’s definitely sulking.</p>
<p>“We don’t have time to stand here and complain!” Deuce scolded. Arien thought he really looked and sounded like a snobby rich kid, but his actions state otherwise.</p>
<p>The golden-eyed teen looked down as they felt wriggling in their arms, “Ugh, what happened,” a nasally voice muttered.</p>
<p>“Good evening sleeping beauty, are you ready to help fix the consequences of your actions,” Arien greeted, glaring at the now awake cat.</p>
<p>“Fugna!” Grim yelped, jumping out of Arien’s arms, to which the two boys ahead looked around and glared at the cat.</p>
<p>“Shut up, we don’t know what’s lurking here,” Ace snapped, clearly salty at the cat.</p>
<p>The four of them trudged through the darkness. It was really hard to tell where they were going or what’s in the dark with them. “Yanno… It feels spooky here…” Grim said, to which everyone chose to ignore.</p>
<p>After a few minutes of walking Ace saw a shadow up ahead, and as his eyes cleared he noticed it was some sort of cottage, “Oh, there’s a house back there,” the redhead pointed out, “let’s go see if they can help us.”</p>
<p>The four moved quickly towards the place, Arien didn’t want to say anything, but they doubt anyone lived there. It was dark and dusty, the building looked unattended and was about to collapse in on itself. But as they stood in front of the cottage, Deuce still knocked on the door “Good evening!”</p>
<p>“Is it empty? It doesn’t look like anyone’s been taking care of it,” Arien stated. They waited a few seconds and concluded it was empty.</p>
<p>Ace blew open the door with wind magic. All of them kept quiet as they walked in the empty building. Grim complained as he flew into a spider web, effectively making it stick on his fur.</p>
<p>“Hey look at the chairs, aren’t they tiny?” Ace questioned, bending down to touch the dusty table. Arien noticed it too, there were seven chairs in total.</p>
<p>“Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs’” Arien mumbled, looking around the cottage. This was probably a child’s worst nightmare, a beautiful fairytale turned into an abandoned hotspot for spirits and monsters.</p>
<p>Arien barely noticed Ace telling all of them to leave as their eyes were still plastered to the chairs, and bright visions of the movie overlapped the dark and gloomy cottage. Arien finally broke away from the scene and left the house, seeing the boys were waiting for them at the front.</p>
<p>They started to walk deeper in the woods, looking for the actual mine. They walked mindlessly for a good thirty minutes, and Arien was starting to think the mines didn’t even exist. Arien kept walking and bumped into someone’s back. The teen stumbled back, rubbing their face. “Why’d you stop dickwad,” they grumbled glaring up at the redhead in front of them.</p>
<p>The boy didn’t answer and just looked up front. Arien peeked out from behind him to see the mine entrance, ‘Finally,’ they thought. But upon seeing the cave Arien might be having second thoughts. The mines were dark, and from where they were, they couldn’t see any gems or magical stones in sight, plus there was probably a rule to not enter a place like that if you don’t want to be cursed or haunted.</p>
<p>“Y-You wanna go in that pitch-black cave!?” Grim yelped, clearly terrified.</p>
<p>“What, ya scared?” Ace asked, not breaking eye contact from the entrance, and Deuce who’s already half in.</p>
<p>“What!? I-I’m not scared!” Grim stated, but his voice was wavering. The cat shook his head and flew ahead, “and since I’m totally braver than the rest of you, I’ll even be the leader! All of you, follow me!” He continued as he passed the dark haired boy who was originally at the very front.</p>
<p>“And that’s how you trick an idiot,” Ace grinned, following behind Grim and Deuce who were already in the cave. Arien shook their head before jogging up behind them.</p>
<p>The four of them stayed silent walking through the mines. No one would admit it, but they were all terrified of not knowing what may be in there with them. The deeper they got, Arien saw a few gems, but none of them looked magical, just normal crystals, but Arien wouldn’t know. Besides, none of the three magical beings they were with reacted to the gems, or maybe it’s because they’re as clueless as Arien was. They’re fucked if that’s the case.</p>
<p>Suddenly, Deuce pulled Grim back and skidded to a stop. Ace rose an eyebrow at the boy, wondering why he had stopped. “There’s something here,” the blue-eyed boy stated, voice as low as he could keep it. All four kept quiet, eyes on guard. Deuce was about to apologise for false alarm when a giggle echoed through the mine.</p>
<p>“Ehehehe! It’s been ten years since we’ve had guests!” The voice echoed from everywhere, and Arien was suddenly having deja vu.</p>
<p>“Why don’t you make yourself at home here? For eternity!” Yep totally deja vu, down to the count down their eyes started flashing. Arien was only hoping not to feel like passing out like they had earlier. They doubt either boy will drag them along this time. They closed their eyes, and willed themself to not barf at the flashing colors.</p>
<p>“AAAAAHHHH!!” That was Grim.</p>
<p>“Idiot, calm down!” Ace.</p>
<p>“Damn it! We don’t have time to deal with ghosts right now…!” Deuce.</p>
<p>Arien opened their eyes, seeing the orbs closing in on the circle, they hadn’t felt dizzy yet. Does it just happen if they missed the orbs too much? They weren’t going to experiment in a situation like this. “Hey!” Arien shouted, the three looked back at them with confused looks. “I know this sounds weird, but attack where I tell you to!”</p>
<p>Grim nodded, while the boys were still confused, but complied anyway. The four of them ran past the ghosts. Moving as fast as their legs would allow them. There was a blue circle ahead of them, and the orb was almost in, “Deuce! Shoot on your left!” The dark haired boy pointed his pen in the direction summoning a bright light and shooting in that general direction. It hit a ghost that had just appeared, making it immediately vanish. “Ace above!” Arien shouted, and the boy pointed the pen upwards, shooting the ghost right as it appeared.</p>
<p>It went like that for while, the four running with ghosts chasing them down, and Arien telling them where to attack. “Hah… hah… They’re still chasing after us!” Grim panted, glancing back at the ghosts behind them.</p>
<p>But as they ran more, the ghosts stopped, as if they were tired from chasing. “How are you out of breath!? You’re a ghost!” Arien shouted, bewildered at the fact dead people can breathe.</p>
<p>“Ghosts can breathe?!” Deuce exclaimed, looking back towards the ghosts.</p>
<p>“Can we discuss that later?!” Ace shouted at them, telling them to keep running. Deuce clicked his tongue at him but did as told.</p>
<p>Once the ghosts were out of range Arien knelt down, panting harshly. Damn they need to start working out again, this is embarrassing “Looks like we lost them,” Arien said between breaths.</p>
<p>“Alright, let’s keep going. We don’t have much time.” Deuce declared, his breathing already back to normal. What the fuck, is he some kind of monster? How was he not tired after all that?! Even Grim was about to pass out, and he flew!</p>
<p>There was a noise from the end of the cave, and all of their eyes snapped towards the noise. “I thought we’ve shook them off!” Ace panted, dreading the thought of running away, again.</p>
<p>“Are there more ghosts over there?” Arien asked, hands still on their knees. They honestly want to collapse.</p>
<p>“This’ll never end if we keep engaging them. Keep moving!” Deuce told, already starting to walk off alone. Is this kid inane?!</p>
<p>“I’d much rather if you don’t act all tough and ordering me around,” Ace growled, standing up straight. The redhead stepped forward and gripped the taller boy’s shoulder. He turned the other around and glared, “this never would’ve happened in the first place if you weren’t acting like an idiot! Throwing me at the chandelier, what were you thinking?!”</p>
<p>Deuce’s jaw dropped, and he fixed a glare right back at him. The dark haired boy swatted away the shorter boys hand and pushed him away. “Well if you want to be like that,” he started, his words accompanied by a growl, “you’re the one who started this for skipping out on cleaning!”</p>
<p>The redhead stepped back, letting out an equally feral growl, “Okay, well, that furball over there is the one who attacked me and burned the statue of the Queen of Hearts!”</p>
<p>“Huh!? You were making fun of me, so that was your fault!” Grim snapped back, and the three started to argue, pointing fingers at each other.</p>
<p>Arien’s eye twitched as they walked up to the three, smacking all of them upside the head. “Do you idiots not understand the situation we’re in?!” The teen questioned, glaring at the three. “So unless you two want to be expelled, and Grim, unless you want to be kicked out, you three need to shut the fuck up and look for the magic stone!”</p>
<p>“That’s why we should’ve split up from the start! We’re getting nowhere like this!” Ace exclaimed agitated, “man, I’m pissed off.”</p>
<p>“Not.... give...” a voice howled from the dark. The three teens and cat froze in place.</p>
<p>“God, not again,” Arien silently prayed to whatever god existed in this world.</p>
<p>“W-Who… said that?” Ace asked, looking at the general direction of the voice.</p>
<p>“Stone... mine!”</p>
<p>“It’s getting closer,” Deuce stated, his voice barely above a whisper.</p>
<p>“Stone is..... MINE!!” A creature emerged from the dark, its body covered in torn fabric and stitches, and as a head it had a glass jar of some sorts filled with a black liquid. The jar was broken and the liquid was spilling down towards its body.</p>
<p>Arien didn’t realize they were frozen in fear, until they felt an ungloved hand pull them along. The teen quickly snapped out of it and started to pick up their pace, as to not slow the rest down. “Stop freezing in the middle of things!” Ace shouted at them, Arien winced as his grip on their hand tightened.</p>
<p>The monster was still close, and Arien could feel it’s hand brush against theirs. The teen let out a silent scream, which alerted the two boys and cat ahead of them. Grim had quickly blew fire towards the monster making it howl in pain, and Ace picked up his speed, dragging Arien along with him.</p>
<p>Deuce had stopped, letting the rest pass him. The boy pointed towards the ground ahead of him, whispering something under his breath, and a second later a wall of fire separated the running teens and the monster. Deuce quickly caught up to the rest once he finished the spell. And the four continued running until they were out of the cave.</p>
<p>Once they were out, they all halted, quickly looking to see if the monster followed them. “What was that?!” Deuce exclaimed, still gripping onto his magical pen.</p>
<p>“That Crowley bastard didn’t say anything about that being here!!” Grim stated, “Let’s get out of here!”</p>
<p>“Wait, didn’t the thing say something about a stone?!” Ace asked. Arien looked down as they felt pressure around their hand. The boy had not let go of them. Was he scared? Arien wasn’t judging, they were also terrified.</p>
<p>“Stone....” a voice echoed from the cave, and the four of them held their breath. “Stone not give!!!”</p>
<p>“So there’s still a magic stone in there!” Deuce exclaimed, turning to his attention towards the cave.</p>
<p>“No way! I may be a genius magician, but there’s no way we’ll win against that!” Grim had sputtered out, hiding behind Arien.</p>
<p>“But if we don’t bring back the magic stone, we’ll be expelled,” Deuce turned his head to look at the three. He seemed to make up his mind, as he fully turned towards the cave, “I’m going!”</p>
<p>“Are you serious?!” Ace exclaimed, eyes wide and mouth agape.</p>
<p>“You can’t do it alone dumbass!” Arien reflectively grabbed the taller boy’s hand with their unoccupied one.</p>
<p>Deuce turned and looked, his eyes filled with fire-y determination, “there is no way I’m going to let myself get expelled!”</p>
<p>“Leave!!!” The monster screamed at Deuce’s declaration, making all of them gasp in shock.</p>
<p>Ace let go of Arien’s hand, and walked in front the rest of them, “stand back if you don’t have any control, Mr. Serious,” he stated, side eyeing the dark haired boy. “I’ll take care of it.”</p>
<p>A normal person wouldn’t have known, but as someone who’s always done the same, Arien could see the crack in Ace’s bravado. The subtle way he was gripping his pen much harder than he usually does, the slight twitching on the corner of his lips, to anyone else he looked ready to attack, but Arien knew this guy was close to sprinting the other way.</p>
<p>“LEAVE!!” The voice boomed once more.</p>
<p>“Fugna!! Stay away!!” Grim yelled as he trembled, pressing himself onto Arien’s back.</p>
<p>Arien’s eyes darted everywhere, finding a place to escape, when their eyes landed on something shiny. It seemed the other two also noticed the sparkling item. “That light,” Deuce muttered, “is it a magic crystal?!”</p>
<p>“GO!! WON’T GIVE!” the monster roared.</p>
<p>“Let’s get out of here!” Grim yelled.</p>
<p>“We have to escape!” At this point Arien’s fight or flight response was just flight or flight. The teen grabbed the two hard headed boys who were still standing their ground in front of the monster, forcing them to run away.</p>
<p>The four kept running until they were back in front of the cottage. Everyone was panting and exhausted, there was no way they could take the crystal from that thing.</p>
<p>“Let’s give up,” Ace declared, controlling his breathing. “I’d rather get expelled than fight that thing!”</p>
<p>“What?! Don’t screw around!” Deuce growled, clenching his fists. “I’d rather die than face expulsion!”</p>
<p>“Then just die alone!” Ace snapped, glaring at the boy. The redhead then proceeded to go up the other’s space eyeing him down, “you know, you talk big for someone who’s worse at magic than me.” Arien could’ve sworn they saw Deuce’s pupils turn into slits.</p>
<p>Deuce let out a bark of laughter, eyeing the other right back. “Oh? Is that right?” He asked, stepping closer to the redhead. There was barely any distance between the two. If one of them just as much as flinch, they’d probably be mushed together. “If you don’t want to go back fine,” Deuce growled, “stay right here, cowering like the spineless loser you are.”</p>
<p>Arien was on the sidelines and they were terrified. This wasn’t the (kinda) sweet, reckless, idiot that Arien had been getting used to. No, this boy looked threatening, like a wild animal who had their canines bared. But Ace didn’t seem phased, he challenged the other back with an equal amount of vigor. “Huh? Cowering?” the redhead queried, “who exactly are you talking about?”</p>
<p>Grim looked completely terrified, probably his animal instincts kicking in at the sight of the two. “U-uh, Deuce, did you switch up your character?” The cat questioned in a small voice.</p>
<p>The dark haired boy seemed to realize the situation. He blinked twice, backing away from the redhead. “Huh,” he fake coughed, “my bad, I lost my composure a bit.”</p>
<p>A bit? Arien honestly thought they were about to kill each other. The two still seemed a bit tense, Arien had to switch the topic. “So, uh, can magic help us?”</p>
<p>Deuce shook his head, “Like the headmaster said, magic isn’t all-powerful,” he stated, “If you can’t imagine it, it won’t materialize. Other than that, large scale or complicated magic requires a lot of training.”</p>
<p>“But, that’s why we have schools for magic,” Ace continued, “You have to practice a lot to use magic the exact way you imagine it. In short, you’ll screw up if you lose your cool.”</p>
<p>“Huh... so that’s why Grim can only use fire,” Arien had blurted out, which earned them a glare from the monster.</p>
<p>Deuce sighed and looked at the direction of the mine, “at any rate, I’m going in. I’ll figure out how to beat that thing and come back with the magical stone.”</p>
<p>Ace laughed at him, “judging by the chandelier accident, you’re a complete idiot.” Ace stated, “and earlier, you couldn’t land a single hit, but now you’ll ‘figure it out’?” Ace was getting all up in the other’s space like before. “It’s going to end the same,” he ended in a mocking tone.</p>
<p>“Come again,” Deuce replied, his tone menacing, like he was challenging the other to even dare mention it again.</p>
<p>Grim had yelped and flew as far away as he could from the two, whilst still being in the general area. “Here they go again...”</p>
<p>Arien had to stop them somehow. And there’s only one way they knew how. The teen forcefully came in between the two glaring boys, pushing them away from each other. When the two continued to argue, as if Arien wasn’t there, they had lost it, “Will you two knock it off?!”</p>
<p>All eyes landed on the smallest teen, getting smushed between the two boys. The two stepped back slowly from them, nervously sweat dropping. “Good, now here’s the deal,” Arien started, “neither of you could do anything back there.” They stated as a matter of fact, giving the two boys a pointed look.</p>
<p>“But,” Deuce voiced out, “what exactly should we do?”</p>
<p>“We have to come up with a plan. Don’t just rush in there saying ‘you’ll figure it out’. You’ll get killed,” Arien suggested, and maybe, slightly threatened.</p>
<p>“Strategy?” Ace asked, “you mean get along and work together?” He shook his head, “ha, that’s cold.”</p>
<p>“Disagreed,” Deuce told Arien, “I am not working with this eyesore.”</p>
<p>Arien almost smacked them both and yelled at them for being childish in a situation like this. But Grim had cut them off, “But... It’s way lamer to get expelled on the first day of school...”</p>
<p>The two boys looked at the cat, then at each other, staying silent through the whole exchange. Arien looked at them and nodded with Grim’s statement, “yeah, that’s really lame.”</p>
<p>Ace was the first one to crumble, he let out a long groan before focusing his gaze on the ravenette, “fine, what’s your plan?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. That's Kinda Gay</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“In all the years I’ve been head master,” the man said between sobs, “I never thought I’d see they day that students from Night Raven College go hand-in-hand to face and defeat their enemy!!”</p>
<p>The two boys sputtered, face red, trying to dismiss the headmaster’s statement,”I did not hold this guy’s hand!” Deuce exclaimed.</p>
<p>“I would never do that! Gross!” Ace declared, his voice a pitch higher than usual.</p>
<p>Arien hummed in amusement, “we sorta did hold hands though,” the teen stated.</p>
<p>The two boys looked at them, “with you! Not with him!” Ace stated, like that made any difference.</p>
<p>“Yeah and I held his hand too, so it’s in-direct hand holding!” Arien teased, and the two boys started to complain, which had them laughing their head off.</p>
<p>TL : DR</p>
<p>They're all tsunderes</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hii! If you're still reading this, I want to thank you!! </p>
<p>Comments are always appreciated, btw!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Arien’s plan was simple. Distract the monster, trap it, and get the stone. It sounded easy on paper, but the execution depended on all of their team work. Arien hoped that the idiots won’t suddenly argue and get them all killed.</p>
<p>The four of them once again found themselves in the entrance of the cave. The monster was nowhere in sight, they had to lure them out. This was where Grim came in. “I still can’t believe I have to be live bait,” the cat complained.</p>
<p>“Just do it!” The three hissed at the cat, which led the creature to yelp and fly towards the very lip of the cave.</p>
<p>“Hey beasty, beasty! Over here!!” The cat yelled, his voice echoing through the cavern.</p>
<p>“LEAVE!!!” A roar from the inside had them all stepping back, as the monster emerge from the depths of the cave. But they couldn’t back away now, the beast was out, they had to follow through.</p>
<p>“Over here!!” Arien shouted, throwing a small rock at the monster. It roared and chased after them. Arien and Grim were distracting it by throwing small rocks or shouting at it.</p>
<p>“It’s pretty far from the cave now!” Grim informed the two boys.</p>
<p>“Okay, I got this,” Ace shook his hands, probably hyping himself up, “let’s go! Gigantic Tempest!” From the redheads magic pen, materialized a giant tornado, coming at a rapid speed towards the monster.</p>
<p>“Grim’s Fire Special!” Grim declared and blew his blue fire into Ace’s tornado. The monster roared as it got sucked inside the inferno of flame.</p>
<p>“Not bad, I can even turn Grim’s shoddy fire into an inferno,” Ace hummed, patting himself on the back.</p>
<p>“It’s not shoddy!” The cat argued, “ugh! Everything you say ticks me off!!”</p>
<p>“Deuce!” Arien called out, come on, don’t mess this up.</p>
<p>“Okay.. Focus,” he breathed, pointing his pen at the monster, “the heaviest thing I know...” a glow was surrounding the boy, moving towards the pen, “come forth! Cauldron!” A black cauldron materialized from thin air, dropping itself onto the monster.</p>
<p>“Let’s hurry up and grab the stone while that thing can’t move!!” Arien shouted, running towards the cave.</p>
<p>“Wait!!!” The monster screamed after them.</p>
<p>The four of them looked around, looking for the particular stone that the monster was protecting. “There! Between those two crystals!” Deuce pointed toward a shining stone. Arien stepped forward and pulled at the stone.</p>
<p>“Hands off!!!” The monster struggled, almost toppling the cauldron above it.</p>
<p>“Oi, Deuce! Throw some more stuff on it!” Grim exclaimed, ducking himself under Arien, and hoped the monster wouldn’t spot him.</p>
<p>“Eh?? More?!” The boy queried, looking at the monster and his pen, “um, uh c-come forth! Cauldron!” A new cauldron materialized above the monster and dropped down on it. “And um, uh, cauldron!” Another one. “And lastly, er, cauldron!!”</p>
<p>The monster roared as three more cauldrons pinned it down, and thrashed to get the heavy black pots off. Ace looked at the taller boy with a bemused expression, “don’t you have nothing but cauldrons in your repertoire?”</p>
<p>To which Deuce stuttered and glared at the redhead, “shut up! I’m at my wits’ end here!” Arien sweat dropped, yeah, it was a good call not letting him go alone, he would’ve totally died.</p>
<p>The teen pulled off the stone from its post between the crystals and stood up. “Okay we got the stone! Let’s leave!” Arien called out to the boys, pocketing the stone.</p>
<p>“That... is... MINE!!!” the monster roared from the entrance. It somehow had knocked off all the cauldrons Deuce dropped on it.</p>
<p>“You’re kidding?!” Ace looked at the monster, flabbergasted.</p>
<p>“Give... it... BACK!!” The monster roared, storming in towards them.</p>
<p>“Shit! It’s gonna catch up soon!” Deuce exclaimed.</p>
<p>“We have to fight it!” Arien informed them, eyes wide themself.</p>
<p>“Aghh! Fine! Let’s finish it!” Ace said, pulling out his pen in front of him, “don’t let me down now, Mr. Serious!”</p>
<p>Deuce clicked his tongue and got in a similar stance Ace was in, “you too.”</p>
<p>“I’ll show off my power!!” Grim declared floating between them.</p>
<p>There was no count down, and Arien was terrified. Does that mean they were meant to lose? But as they looked up, they saw the HP bar over their companions and the monster. The teen saw the monster had two magic; light-dark magic and wind magic. Arien saw a spell wheel; fire, water, wind, light-dark, it had arrows pointing to each element in the circle, is this some sort of tutorial? The fire spell had an arrow going towards the wind spell, and the wind’s arrow going to water. Nothing was pointing at the light-dark spell, was it the strongest? Arien couldn’t tell.</p>
<p>“Aghh!!” Arien’s eyes snapped up fast enough to see Grim blowing fire at the monster. Arien saw the word ‘critical’ flashed over the monster and the HP bar dropped.</p>
<p>Arien made the connection. “Hey! Attack it with fire magic! It can only use wind and the dark-light magic thing!!” Arien informed them.</p>
<p>“How would you know that?!” Ace yelled back, throwing a wind spell towards the monster to prevent it from attacking or coming closer to them.</p>
<p>“Just trust me!” Arien told them, “hurry up! It’s going to attack!” The teen shouted as they saw the monster ‘click’ on the wind magic. Deuce reflectively shot back water magic at the monster, but ultimately overwhelmed, and the teen was knocked back.</p>
<p>“Shit, I’m not good with fire magic,” Deuce growled as he got back up on his feet. Arien looked over at him and saw light-dark magic, which they decided to call non-elemental magic, and water magic.</p>
<p>“Deuce, be on defense, use strictly the non-elemental magic. Wind beats water apparently,” Arien told the boy.</p>
<p>Deuce nodded, “tell me what to do.”</p>
<p>Arien gave him an affirmative nod, looking back ahead at Ace and Grim. The cat had only fire magic, and Ace has wind and fire. Okay, they’re on offense. “Deuce, can you blind the monster with light magic?” The teen questioned.</p>
<p>To which the boy replied, “I can try.”</p>
<p>“Ace, Grim! When Deuce blinds the monster, attack it with all the fire power you have!” Arien commanded, the two obliged. Arien waited until the monster was choosing its magic, to their luck it chose wind. Arien saw it charge up, “Deuce! Now!” They exclaimed.</p>
<p>The dark haired boy shot out light magic, directing it towards the monsters head. The second Deuce’s magic hit, Ace and Grim combined their attack, creating a huge red-blue ball of fire. The two directed the attack towards the monster, taking down a huge chunk of its HP.</p>
<p>The monster roared, and a bright glowing light surrounded it. Arien’s eyes widened, light magic, and on a huge scale. “Deuce, can you cover us in dark magic?!” They questioned</p>
<p>“Not in a large scale!” Deuce informed shaking his head. The light was getting brighter.</p>
<p>“Use the spell on Arien!” Ace shouted, covering his face with his arm, “we need him to be able to see the monster’s attack!”</p>
<p>Arien wanted to comment on mis-gendering them, but that’s not important right now. “But you two need to see to attack!” Arien said back.</p>
<p>“We, who can use magic aren’t as affected by monster attacks, we don’t know what will happen to you,” Ace shook his head, “Deuce, use it on Arien!”</p>
<p>Deuce nodded, pointing his pen at the ravenette, “close your eyes.”</p>
<p>Arien shut their eyes tight as they felt an odd sensation engulf them. The dark haired boy casted the spell in time, as the monster released its built up magic, covering the entire cavern in a blinding light. The three magic users winced as they covered their faces with their hands to avoid a direct hit to their eyes.</p>
<p>A few moments later, Arien slowly opened their eyes, seeing the three frozen in place. “Are you guys okay?!”</p>
<p>The three snapped their eyes towards the ravenette. Grim was the first to reply, “dizzy.”</p>
<p>The two boys shook their head, “I’m not blind, I see the cave,” Ace stated, “but I can’t really tell where the monster is.”</p>
<p>Arien didn’t understand what he meant, the monster was right ahead, yes it was a bit faded for some reason, but it was right there. The monster chose wind magic. The force of it blew the four of them off their feet. “Where did that come from?!” Deuce questioned, hissing as he pulled his hand out from under him.</p>
<p>Arien’s eyes widened in realization. The monster wasn’t trying to blind them, no, it redirected the light so it won’t reflect off of it. Humans see things because of light reflecting off of it, if it does not reflect light, it might as well not exist to the human eye. If that were the case, the darkness Deuce placed on Arien wouldn’t have done anything, since the magic was working on the monster itself. So why can Arien still see it?</p>
<p>“Maybe it’s because I’m technically not in the fight,” Arien thought. But upon looking up, they saw their own HP bar above their head, okay scratch that, they counted in the fight. Arien had no time to think of reasons why, when they saw the monster had chose wind magic once more. “It can’t use light magic again,” Arien muttered.</p>
<p>“Gah, I can’t see where it is!” Grim complained, his eyes darting around the cave.</p>
<p>Arien had no time to lose. The teen stood, “Ace stand up! Prepare fire magic!”<br/>“I can’t see where it is!” The redhead stated.</p>
<p>“I’ll direct you! Just prepare the attack!” Ace nodded, standing up, and pointing his pen in front of him. Arien grabbed his hand, and pulled it to the left, pointing it directly at the monster's head.</p>
<p>“Do I shoot?!” The boy questioned, clearly on edge from not knowing where the monster was.</p>
<p>“Calm down! You told me it won’t work if you lose your cool!” Arien told him, steadying their grip on the other's arm. The monster reared back, ready to shoot, “Now Ace!”</p>
<p>Fire shot out of the redheads pen, hitting the monster straight on its face as it was preparing to blow them away once more. The bold pink font with the word ‘critical’ popped up over the monster, and it’s bar dropped to zero.</p>
<p>Everyone was silent.</p>
<p>“Is it over??” Deuce asked from behind them.</p>
<p>“It’s over,” Arien breathed out, dropping to the ground in exhaustion.</p>
<p>“We... did it?” Ace slowly asked, seeming to be bewildered at the thought they had succeeded.</p>
<p>“We won...” Grim mumbled, “we actually won!!”</p>
<p>The boys and cat looked at each other grinning, they all let out a celebratory cheer, high-fiving each other. They all turned their eyes onto the lone teen who was just laughing at them from the sidelines.</p>
<p>“Arien!!!” Grim first shouted, pouncing onto the teen. Arien giggled, letting the creature nuzzle itself in their arms.</p>
<p>“Arien~!” Ace grinned. The teens eyes widened as they saw the two boys approaching them.</p>
<p>“No—!” The two boys followed Grim’s lead and pounced on the smaller teen. Resulting in all of them toppled over each other on the ground.</p>
<p>They all blinked, breaking into laughter. It seemed all four of them were at a euphoric state of not dying, and maybe the adrenaline was still pumping in their veins.</p>
<p>“I can’t believe we didn’t die!” Deuce exclaimed in between laughter. </p>
<p>“I honestly almost shit my pants,” Ace commented bashfully.</p>
<p>“Too much information,” Grim whined, mostly faking disgust.</p>
<p>“Okay, okay, get off me, I can’t fucking breathe,” Arien chuckled, pushing the three off of them. The four of them sat there, continuing to chat idly, laughing with each other. Arien hummed, “so that’s what they mean by ‘adversity brings people together.’”</p>
<p>The three stopped their chatter and flushed. “N-no, it’s not like that!” Deuce stuttered out.</p>
<p>“Y-yeah! Don’t say weird things!” Ace continued, looking away from everyone.</p>
<p>“W-we won because of my genius!” Grim declared, “it’s not because we pooled our strengths together.”</p>
<p>There was silence, and Arien gave them all an unamused face. Ace looked back at them and sighed, “I guess making excuses is really lame...” he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, “I hate to admit it, but we only won because of you...”</p>
<p>“True, we only pulled through because you gave us level headed instructions,” Deuce said softly, smiling at the ravenette in front of him. “Thanks to you, we can prevent expulsion,” he sighed, “I’m so relieved...”</p>
<p>“Yeah yeah, we’re all relieved, and tired and battered-out,” Ace groaned, going back to his asshole personality, “let’s go home.”</p>
<p>“I’m starving,” the cat groaned, his stomach grumbling so loud that it echoed through the cave. Grim’s eye seemed to catch something, and he picked it up, “what’s this?”</p>
<p>Deuce looked at it and hummed, “I think that might be the remains of the monster.” He looked at it closely, “it’s a magic crystal...? I’ve never seen one that’s pitch-black,” Deuce stated, “it looks like coal.”</p>
<p>Grim sniffed at it and drooled, “this smells so good!”</p>
<p>“No way!” Ace gaped.</p>
<p>“Ah! I’m so hungry!” Grim licked his lips, “itadakimasu!” He declared before swallowing the thing hole.</p>
<p>“You dumb rodent! Spit it out!!” Arien exclaimed, shaking the cat.</p>
<p>“Nyow,” Grim meowed, his eyes going in circles from the teens shaking.</p>
<p>“Hey are you alright?” Deuce questioned the creature.</p>
<p>“And that’s why you don’t eat things off the ground,” Ace sighed.</p>
<p>Grim kept quiet and his eyes widened, “It’s delicious!!”</p>
<p>“What?!?!” The three teenagers shouted with wide eyes.</p>
<p>“It’s full-bodied, but also rich, with an aromatic smell. The sweetness blooms in your mouth,” the cat rambled. The three teens looked at him with a petrified look, “it’s like a field of flowers in my mouth!!”</p>
<p>Ace gagged, “monsters really have an odd taste.”</p>
<p>“I guess so,” Deuce replied, “but, most people wouldn’t even put an unknown object in their mouth.”</p>
<p>“Is he really not gonna die?” Arien questioned.</p>
<p>“Ahh! It’s so tasty!” Grim squealed, “don’t worry, my stomach isn’t weak like yours!”</p>
<p>“I’m not helping you if your stomach gets messed up later,” Arien stated coldly, to which both boys nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>“Alright, let’s get the magic stone to the headmaster!” Deuce declared.</p>
<p>~~~~~~~</p>
<p>“Eh?! You really went to the Dwarfs’ Mine and found a magic stone?!” Crowley asked bewildered, as the three teens barged in his office, shoving the stone to his face. “I really didn’t think you’d actually go... Moreover, come back with the stone in hand,” Crowley stated. “I had quietly finished the paperwork for your expulsion.”</p>
<p>“Fugna! The nerve of this guy!” Grim howled, “while we were fighting some crazy monster too!”</p>
<p>“Monster?” Crowley questioned.</p>
<p>“Yeah! What gives! It was super gross and strong,” Ace complained, “it was awful!”</p>
<p>“Could you explain in more detail?” The man asked the four.</p>
<p>“When we got in the cave, there was this huge monster guarding the stone,” Arien stated, “it was really big, and had a glass jar for a head, that was leaking a black substance.”</p>
<p>“It also wouldn’t give us the stone,” Deuce continued, “we had to fight it to gain the stone.”</p>
<p>Crowley blinked at them, “a mysterious monster living in the mines, and the four of you worked together to defeat it and bring back the magical stone?”</p>
<p>“We didn’t exactly work together...” Ace muttered, avoiding eye contact.</p>
<p>“It’s more like, our goals aligned,” Deuce continued.</p>
<p>The man in front of him stared at the four of them, begining to sob. “E-Eh?!” Arien exclaimed at the headmasters sudden tears.</p>
<p>“What’s with this guy?!” Grim questioned, “why is an adult bursting into tears?!”</p>
<p>“In all the years I’ve been head master,” the man said between sobs, “I never thought I’d see they day that students from Night Raven College go hand-in-hand to face and defeat their enemy!!”</p>
<p>The two boys sputtered, face red, trying to dismiss the headmaster’s statement,”I did not hold this guy’s hand!” Deuce exclaimed.</p>
<p>“I would never do that! Gross!” Ace declared, his voice a pitch higher than usual.</p>
<p>Arien hummed in amusement, “we sorta did hold hands though,” the teen stated.</p>
<p>The two boys looked at them, “with you! Not with him!” Ace stated, like that made any difference.</p>
<p>“Yeah and I held his hand too, so it’s in-direct hand holding!” Arien teased, and the two boys started to complain, which had them laughing their head off.</p>
<p>“Ahh, whatever!!” Ace shouted, his face as red as the heart painted over his eye. Deuce wasn’t doing any better, glaring at the ground, as if asking it to swallow him up.</p>
<p>“I am overwhelmed with emotion,” Crowley stated, sniffing. “This incident confirms it. Arien, you have a talent!” Crowley declared, “that weird ‘power’ of yours can bring the students together.”</p>
<p>“H-huh?” The teen in question rasped out.</p>
<p>“Students of NRC are budding wizards called here by the Mirror of Darkness,” Crowley started, “However, that makes them prideful and egotistical people, that do not have the slightest inkling to work with others,” Crowley explained, “Making many of them selfish and self-centred.”</p>
<p>“You’re really not saying anything nice!” Grim stated, while Arien was trying hard not fall in a fit of laughter at the two boys’ betrayed looks.</p>
<p>“You cannot use magic,” Crowley directed towards Arien, “but maybe precisely because of that, you can give instructions to wizards and get them to cooperate,” he thought out, “perhaps that mediocrity is what this school needs right now.”</p>
<p>Arien’s jaw dropped, they couldn’t tell if that was an insult or not. He was really not saying anything nice.</p>
<p>“Arien-san,” he called them again, “I have a feeling your existence is essential to the future of NRC,” he told them, “Trappola, Spade,” Crowley looked at the boys. “Along with rescinding your expulsion, I shall give Arien-san the qualifications to attend the academy!!”</p>
<p>“Eh?!?!” The four of them exclaimed.</p>
<p>“Wait, what?!” Arien asked with wide eyes.</p>
<p>“Yes, for I am so kind,” Crowley mused. “But there is one condition,” he started, “you cannot use magic, therefore you cannot be a wizard, you most-likely will not be able to complete magic related lessons.”</p>
<p>“Then, how am I supposed to be a student?” The seafoam haired teen questioned.</p>
<p>“This is where Grim comes in,” Crowley stated, which had the cat’s ears perked, “you have proven to me you have enough talent to become a magician. Therefore, I shall allow you two to attend the academy as one student!”</p>
<p>Grim’s eyes beamed, “really?! I can be a student??”</p>
<p>“Yes, if you don’t ever let an incident like earlier happen again. Do we have an agreement?” Crowley offered.</p>
<p>“Yes!” Grim answered quickly, while Arien nodded. Good they don’t have to go around cleaning anymore.</p>
<p>“Well then, I shall give you the symbol of your status as a student in a form of a magical crystal.” He held out a collar with the crystal towards Grim. “We usually have it as pens, but you will not be able to hold it in your paw, so I made this especially for you,” Crowley stated putting it on the cat, “I pay attention to even the smallest details. Aren’t I so thoughtful~!”</p>
<p>Grim flew around happily, exclaiming how cool he was. Crowley sighed and shook his head. “As you can see, Grim is not accustomed to human society,” Crowley stated to Arien, “It’s up to you to rein and supervise him so he does not cause any trouble.”</p>
<p>“M-me?” Arien asked, confused.</p>
<p>Ace patted Arien on the back, “look at you, first day and you’re already supervisor!”</p>
<p>Deuce hummed, “I see, since there’s only two of you in the dorm, you have been entrusted to supervise Grim, making you supervisor, like a prefect.”</p>
<p>Ace laughed, “that’s totally crazy, a prefect who can’t use magic?”</p>
<p>Arien’s eyes were spinning, um, what? “I’ll do my best???”</p>
<p>The two boys laughed, as Arien was swallowing the new information, and Grim still happily flying around the room.</p>
<p>“Oh yes, I have a request for you,” Crowley stated, “I entrust you with a magical item, the ‘Ghost Camera’.”</p>
<p>“Ghost Camera?” The teen asked, tilting their head to the side.</p>
<p>“I think my grandma once told me about it,” Ace declared, “it’s a super old magic tool, right?”</p>
<p>“It’s not old,” Crowley coughed, “this item can capture, not only the subjects form, but also part of their soul.”</p>
<p>“A part of their soul?” Deuce questioned.</p>
<p>Crowley explained what exactly the camera does. It captured a picture and a ‘memory’ fragment from the scene it captures. Interestingly the scenes sometimes jump from the photos and play in front of people, making them think it’s a spirit. They all stared in awe at the camera and it’s unique properties.</p>
<p>Crowley looked at Arien, handing them said camera, “Arien-san, as supervisor, please take pictures of Grim and other students to leave behind memories of your live in this academy.”</p>
<p>“Take plenty photos of me!” Grim exclaimed, flying in front of the lens of the camera.</p>
<p>“Especially, Grim. Make sure to take ‘memories’ if he causes trouble,” Crowley stated, in a slightly threatening manner. Arien nodded, well, good thing they liked photography. Crowley glanced at the clock, “it’s already late, let’s return the details tomorrow. Return to your dormitories, everyone.”</p>
<p>“Pardon the intrusion!” Deuce exclaimed, motioning for the rest of them to leave.</p>
<p>The four of them moved through the dark halls, the time pointing at 28 minutes past midnight. Arien let out a small yawn as they stretched their arms out, walking quietly.</p>
<p>“Hah,” Deuce sighed, breaking the silence, “expulsion rescinded, I’m beat,” the boy yawned.</p>
<p>“Lalala!” Grim sung, how in the world does he still have energy. “I start as a student tomorrow!” He exclaimed, flying ahead, “I’m gonna leave you all in the dust!”</p>
<p>Ace clicked his tongue, “you talk big for only being half of a student,” he stopped, a yawn breaking his sentence. Huh, it seems yawns are actually contagious.</p>
<p>“We’re classmates starting tomorrow, Arien, Grim.” Deuce stated, looking at the two.</p>
<p>Arien hummed, “I wonder if it’ll go well, especially with you two,” Arien had mumbled the last part, but the two seemed to hear anyway.</p>
<p>“Will you stop?” Ace pleaded, looking too tired to complain more.</p>
<p>“Pfft,” Deuce snickered, “even if we don’t want to, we’re going to see each other everyday,” the boy stated, “hell, I’m in the same dorm as this jerk-face,” Deuce ended, nudging at Ace’s general direction.</p>
<p>Ace groaned, “thinking of seeing your serious mug everyday,” he whined, “no thank you.”</p>
<p>“That’s my line, truant Ace,” Deuce grumbled.</p>
<p>“Sure sure, almost-expelled-crybaby Deuce~!” The redhead teased, earning a death glare from the dark haired boy next to him. Ace laughed, looking back at Arien, “well, see you tomorrow, prefect~!”</p>
<p>As the two boys excused themselves, entering the Heartslabyul mirror, Arien called out, “you better not try kill each other!” There was a ‘no promises’, but it was faded as they were swallowed up by the mirror. Arien snickered, shaking their head. “They actually make a good duo.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Grim replied, “they’re the ‘fight because they’re close’ type.”</p>
<p>Arien laughed, wiping a tear from their eye, “that’s kinda gay.”</p>
<p>Grim looked at them oddly but ignored it, “let’s go back to our dorm, human! Tomorrow starts our bright future as students of Night Raven College!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Please Let Me Sleep With You!!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“No! Obviously not!” Ace yelled like he felt offended Arien even suggested that. “Fine! But you’re coming with me since you suggested it!”</p>
<p>“Eh?!” Arien exclaimed with wide eyes, the taller boy grabbed a hold of both of their hands and brought them together in front of the both of them.</p>
<p>“You’ll help me right? Right?” The redhead queried, eyes unblinking. Damn this kid’s persistent, his hold isn’t funny either, it hurts.</p>
<p>“Let go,” Arien told him, tugging at their hands.</p>
<p>Ace shook his head, “not until you say you’ll help me.”</p>
<p>“Why would I do that!”</p>
<p>“Fine we can stay like this until you say yes.”</p>
<p>“Oh my god, just let go!”</p>
<p>“No!”</p>
<p>TL : DR </p>
<p>Don't steal kids</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>There's a bit of fan service for the Ace-kinnies out there-</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Arien had a bit of trouble sleeping that night, their entire body was sore, but somehow they couldn’t fall asleep. It reminded them of their time on broadway, how they sometimes got too tired to sleep when they had intensive practices a week or two before opening nights, it kinda sucked, especially when they were so young, but it was really fun. Same like today, they supposed.</p>
<p>Arien’s eyes widened at the thought, “fun? Don’t make me laugh. I almost died,” they sighed closing their eyes.</p>
<p>“Nya... nya...” Arien looked to their side. Ah yes, the cat-thing was also a reason they couldn’t sleep. Despite being smaller than their dog back home, the cat took more space than River ever did. Arien barely had a third of the bed.</p>
<p>Arien sat up and threw their pillow at the cat, “quit snoring rat.” The pillow bounced off of him and landed on the floor. Arien groaned, getting down from the bed to get their pillow.</p>
<p>Knock, knock, knock.</p>
<p>There was a rapid knocking from the front porch. “Who’s here at this hour?” They muttered to themself, “who’d come here in general, to their knowledge this place is abandoned.” The knocking got louder, and Arien sighed, walking out their room and towards the front door, “coming!” Arien grumbled about it being probably 3 am before opening the door.</p>
<p>Upon opening the door Arien was met with a grinning redhead, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, “hey, can you let me in?” Ace asked.</p>
<p>Arien was a bit tempted to slam the door on his face, but decided against it. The teen sighed, the however many times that night, and opened the door wider, stepping aside.</p>
<p>The redhead smiled sheepishly as he entered the dusty building. Arien didn’t really notice it earlier, but the boy had some weird heart-shaped collar around his neck, “what’s that on your neck?” The teen questioned.</p>
<p>That was met with a loud annoyed groan from the redhead, “that stupid dorm head! I’m never returning to Heartslabyul!” The boy declared. Arien was taken aback by the sudden anger the boy expressed towards his dorm. Ace turned to look at Arien straight in the eye. “From now on, I’ll be a member of this dorm instead!”</p>
<p>“No way!!” Arien immediately shouted back.</p>
<p>“Come on!!! Please, I won’t cause trouble!!” The redhead pleaded.</p>
<p>“Nu-uh, no way, don’t believe you,” Arien shook their head, not believing the redhead’s statement one bit. Apparently all of their shouting woke Grim up, and he went looking for them.</p>
<p>“Hey, Ace is wearing that weird collar I had on the first day!” Grim stated from around the corner, which surprised the two teens who were having a stare off. Grim flew closer to them and asked the taller teen, “why are you wearing that?”</p>
<p>Ace huffed and glared down at the collar, “I ate a tart.”</p>
<p>“Huh?” The cat and teen questioned, staring oddly at the redhead.</p>
<p>“Exactly! It was really late and I got hungry because I missed dinner,” he began, “so I went into the dorm’s fridge and saw three whole tarts. So I took one and ate it, as I did that stupid dorm head came up behind me!” Ace explained, “he told me about some stupid rule and placed this collar on me!”</p>
<p>Arien laughed, shaking their head, “you only have yourself to blame,” Grim stated.</p>
<p>“No, no,” Arien said between giggles, “that is a bit much for a tart, but I don’t feel bad since it’s Ace~!”</p>
<p>“Ahh! Stop laughing!” The redhead growled.</p>
<p>“What does that collar even do? It’s kinda odd, discipline? Only if you’re in a porn,” Arien stated, their laughter dying down.</p>
<p>Ace glared at them, his face slightly tinged red, “did you really have to say the last part?” He questioned.</p>
<p>“Indubitably.”</p>
<p>“Ugh, anyway,” Ace started, “this collar sealed off my magic, so I can’t use it right now,” he informed. “Also, that! Sealing my magic just because I ate one tart when he had three is completely heartless!”</p>
<p>“Ah, wait, if there were three whole tarts it might’ve been prepared for some sort of party yanno?” Grim mused, “like for someone’s birthday! If that were the case, no wonder he’s mad.”</p>
<p>“Ugh! I came here because I thought you’d agree with me he was being a little tyrant!” Ace grumbled.</p>
<p>“I mean, I do agree with you,” Arien stated, which had the boy look at them with sparkling eyes, “but, I think it’s easier to just apologize and have him take off the collar,” Arien told him, which had the boy completely deflated and grumbling. “What? You want to have that collar on for the rest of the years you’re here?”</p>
<p>“No! Obviously not!” Ace yelled like he felt offended Arien even suggested that. “Fine! But you’re coming with me since you suggested it!”</p>
<p>“Eh?!” Arien exclaimed with wide eyes, the taller boy grabbed a hold of both of their hands and brought them together in front of the both of them.</p>
<p>“You’ll help me right? Right?” The redhead queried, eyes unblinking. Damn this kid’s persistent, his hold isn’t funny either, it hurts.</p>
<p>“Let go,” Arien told him, tugging at their hands.</p>
<p>Ace shook his head, “not until you say you’ll help me.”</p>
<p>“Why would I do that!”</p>
<p>“Fine we can stay like this until you say yes.”</p>
<p>“Oh my god, just let go!”</p>
<p>“No!”</p>
<p>Grim was staring at them, his eyes going from Ace and Arien as the two kept bickering. It felt like it was getting nowhere, and Grim was about to leave. If the two wanted to stay like that until morning, fine, but he was going to sleep.</p>
<p>“Ugh, fine!!” Arien finally crumbled, “I’ll fucking help you. There, happy?”</p>
<p>The boy grinned and let go of their hands, “great!”</p>
<p>“Motherfucker, that hurt,” Arien grumbled rubbing their hands.</p>
<p>Ace seemed to ignore them and stared down the hallway, “so in the meantime, where can I sleep?” The boy asked, looking back at the seafoam haired teen.</p>
<p>“Are you serious?” Both Arien and Grim questioned him.</p>
<p>“The other rooms aside the room we sleep in are still dusty, you can stay there, but clean it yourself,” Grim informed him.</p>
<p>Ace groaned, “I don’t want to clean!!”</p>
<p>‘What a brat,’ Arien thought, before stating, “you can always sleep on the couch.”</p>
<p>“What! No way!” The redhead shook his head, before shooting Arien the cheesiest grin, “Arien~~ Let me sleep with you!!”</p>
<p>Arien bonked him on the head, “no way, creep.”</p>
<p>“Oh come on!” Ace whined, “I promise I won’t take up your space!”</p>
<p>Arien ignored him and walked towards their room. The redhead trailed along behind them. Arien opened the door to their’s and Grim’s shared room.</p>
<p>“Aww, I knew you’ll cave sooner or lat—“ Ace’s sentence was cut off by Arien slamming the door in his face. “Are you serious! It’s cold out here!” The door opened for a split second and a blanket was thrown at the redhead.</p>
<p>“If you keep shouting, I’m kicking you out!” Arien stated from the other side of the door.</p>
<p>Ace grumbled but kept quiet, bringing the blanket to the lounge. He found the biggest couch in there and dropped himself onto it. “Ah, that kid is so stingy,” he mumbled, pulling up the blanket to cover him fully, “just wait, I’ll get back at you.”</p>
<p>~~~~~</p>
<p>Knock, knock, knock.</p>
<p>Ace woke up with a start at the sound of knocking at the front. He thought he’d ignore it and go back to sleep. But as the knocks kept going he figured, he couldn’t sleep like this. The redhead grumbled, getting of the couch and walking towards the porch, he ruffled his already messy hair as he opened the door, “D-Deuce!” Ace gaped.</p>
<p>“I knew I’d find you here,” the taller boy stated, walking in the building. “I heard about your situation from our dormmates. You ate the dorm heads tart and now you have that collar,” the dark haired boy eyed down the other, taking in the other’s appearance. His entire uniform wrinkled from sleeping in it, hair a thousand times messier than usual, did this kid just wake up? Deuce landed his eyes onto the bright collar around the other’s neck, “you’re a complete idiot.”</p>
<p>“Shut it!” Ace growled shoving the other boy. “I don’t want to hear it from you!”</p>
<p>Deuce rose his eyebrow but kept quiet. The redhead in front of him grumbled, hand going back into his hair, Deuce didn’t think that mess Ace called hair could get messier, but the other had proven him otherwise.</p>
<p>“Is the dorm head still mad at me?” Ace finally asked, glancing up at Deuce.</p>
<p>Deuce hummed, “not completely,” the boy shook his head. “He’s in an irritated mood, and about three people who didn’t follow the waking up routine suffered the same fate as you.”</p>
<p>“‘Not completely’ my ass!! He’s totally mad!!” Ace exclaimed.</p>
<p>“Will you two shut up?!” A voice startled the two. They looked at the short hall behind them to see Arien glaring at the two. Their hair was down and not in the ponytail it was usually in, it was slightly damp. The two figured they had just finished showering.</p>
<p>‘He looks like a girl,’ the two thought.</p>
<p>Deuce coughed and looked away, “sorry for causing a ruckus this early.”</p>
<p>Arien sighed and shook their head, “whatever, it’s fine, just don’t do it again.” Arien turned their attention to Ace, “hurry up and shower, you stink.”</p>
<p>Ace wanted to give them a witty remark but decided against it. “Where’s the shower?”</p>
<p>“Use the one in my room,” Arien stated.</p>
<p>Ace nodded and went up the stairs heading towards Arien’s room. In the room, he saw Grim snoring loudly on the bed, must be nice being a cat, getting to sleep in.</p>
<p>Ace quickly headed to the bathroom, manoeuvring around the collar to take off his uniform. He bent over the sink, splashing his face with water. The redhead panted, glaring at his reflection in the mirror. His reflection stared back at him pitifully, collar wrapped around his neck, taunting him.</p>
<p>He clicked his tongue, turning away from the mirror. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. The redhead stepped into the shower, turning the water on, waiting for it to turn warm. Once fog started to appear on the mirror, Ace stepped under the water and sighed, god the warm water felt so good on his sore body.</p>
<p>He looked down, watching the water run down his body, watching it pool at the dip on his torso to his pelvis. The boy hummed, leaning his head on the wall behind the shower, closing his eyes as he just let the water do it’s work.</p>
<p>Downstairs Arien had invited Deuce to wait for Ace in the lounge, the boy accepted, following the shorter teen in. The two sat next to each other on a couch, “sorry can’t offer anything, we don’t exactly have food to spare,” Arien stated.</p>
<p>“Ah, no, it’s okay,” Deuce replied, feeling slightly nervous</p>
<p>Arien hummed, getting out their hair-tie, and pulling their hair into a ponytail. Deuce stared as his nerves calmed down, ah okay, this is the Arien he recognized. He knows it’s dumb, but he felt uncomfortable when the other had their hair down.</p>
<p>“So your dorm head’s on a rampage?” Arien asked him once they finished fixing their hair.</p>
<p>“Ah, I don’t really know about that, since I’m a freshman, so maybe this is normal?” Deuce informed, a bit unsure himself.</p>
<p>“Arien!!!” A nasally voice yelled from down the hall, startling the two teens. Grim came flying in, and ducking himself between Arien’s arms.</p>
<p>“What? What is it???” The teen questioned the cat.</p>
<p>“There’s weird noises from the bathroom!!” The cat explained, looking pale. They literally already know there were ghosts living here with them, what’s he on about.</p>
<p>And besides, “calm down Grim, it’s just Ace showering,” the teen sighed, patting the cat.</p>
<p>Deuce had snickered beside them, and the cat stuttered something, defending himself. Saying he ‘knew that’ and what-not.</p>
<p>The three chatted for a while and Arien found out the two boys were roommates. Arien looked at Deuce with pity and patted his back, “hang in there buddy.”</p>
<p>“What’s that supposed to mean?” A voice called out to them. The three looked up, finding Ace glaring at them, his hair back to it’s usual level of messiness.</p>
<p>“Nothing,” Arien whistled, avoiding eye contact with the redhead. Before the boy could say anything, Deuce stood up and told all of them to leave for class.</p>
<p>The four of them left the dorm and entered the mirror, leading them to the mirror chamber. Arien was still sorta getting used to travelling through literal mirrors. The three of them headed to the cafeteria to have their breakfast, Arien was honestly glad Crowley had given them an allowance the previous two nights.</p>
<p>Arien had decided to get eggs and bacon for breakfast, and bought Grim a tuna sandwich. They had brought their tray towards the table where Ace and Deuce were sitting. The second they sat down, the teen gobbled down their food. Like Ace said, the three of them missed dinner last night, and unlike Ace, Arien didn’t get a chance to steal a tart from some unsuspecting guy.</p>
<p>The teen snickered at the thought, choking on their food the next second. They grabbed their water and chugged it down, coughing afterwards. Ace and Grim laughed at them, while Deuce gave them a concerned look. “I’m fine, thanks for asking,” they stated sarcastically at the two laughing at them.</p>
<p>The four of them ate their breakfast in peace after that, well as much peace as they could have with a redhead and a cat bickering every few seconds. Deuce scolded them a few times, reminding them what the headmaster had told them about causing a ruckus.</p>
<p>Deuce thought for a second before addressing the sulking redhead, “in any case, you won’t be able to attend class since your magic has been sealed. How about you apologize to Prefect Rosehearts so he can take that off?”</p>
<p>“Ahh! I’m still really pissed though!” Ace grumbled, stabbing his fork into the last piece of pancake on his plate.</p>
<p>“We still have time until next class!” Grim exclaimed, “let’s watch Ace apologize!!”</p>
<p>“I ain’t some kind of exhibit, damn it!”</p>
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